Dark Claw 2: Sentinels Hellfire Rising
by Chaosmob
Summary: The Marvel Universe needs DC's help against the new improved Sentinel's. Who is making and controlling these almost unstoppable Giant Robots?
1. Reunion

A/N: Don't own these character's so don't sue me.

Many many many thanks to DaisyJane for the beta and input. If I had to nominate someone other then my own mom for best woman in the world DaisyJane would get my vote. Many thanks to Lady Isis also for her input and understanding. If I could vote twice for best woman in the world Isis would also get my vote. But since DJ is a mother she slight edges out Isis. Just, because they are both wonderful, intelligent and caring people. And I'm very lucky to know them both. :)

Here is the sequel to Dark Claw. Read and enjoy all.

Oh and the beginning is slightly different then the ending of the first, I might change the ending to Dark Claw to match the beginning of this story.

**Dark Claw 2: Sentinels Hellfire Rising.**

**Chapter 1: Reunion**

Bruce sighed as the Batmobile entered the Cave. He was thinking about last night's patrol. Diana had been pestering him for the past month or so to allow her to come on a patrol with him, to see what Gotham was like through his eyes. He'd finally relented and allowed her to come when she agreed to wear a disguise and not use her super powers. Alfred, with his normal precognitive abilities, had created a Batwoman-type costume for Diana. Bruce's blood boiled remembering how she looked in that costume.

The patrol had gone very well and he'd actually enjoyed her company. At first he thought she would distract him but she was professional and focused all during the patrol. That business-like attitude had only lasted until they returned to the Cave. They barely made it out of the Batmobile before she unleashed her passion on him. He sighed as he parked the Batmobile in the cave. He may never be able to be in the Cave again without seeing her naked and moaning everywhere. He had never experienced carnal pleasure like that before and would never have thought a near virginal warrior princess could do that to him. It he wasn't already convinced that he was head over heals in love with her, last night would have sealed the deal. He just hoped she felt the same way.

He shook his head and hopped out of the Batmobile. He inhaled deeply and frowned as he picked up a scent he hadn't smelled in a while. Batman stealthily moved around the cave though the person waiting for him had to have known he was there. He glared as he saw a puff of smoke come from his occupied computer chair.

"What are you doing here?" Batman growled.

The chair swung around and the occupant faced him. "We need your help, bub." Logan said with a serious expression on his face.

Bruce pulled his cowl off as he walked towards the man sitting on his computer chair. He had two thoughts—what kind of help did Logan need and how did he get here? Logan stuck the cigar in side of his mouth and turned towards the computer. He pressed a button and the screen lit up and he continued typing the list he had begun.

"How did you get access to my computer?" Bruce asked him furious that someone was using his computer without permission. He had important information and secret files stored in it. Bruce had installed massive firewalls and he changed the access codes every other day to kept people from hacking into it.

Bruce could see a smirk form on Logan's lips from the side view he had of his face. "Bruce, I've seen into your mind and I know how you think. Figured out your new access codes on the third try. That's one less than you allow before the whole system locks up." he bragged to Bruce.

Bruce ignored Logan's comment and looked at the massive screen, Logan had compiled a list, a very long list. On it he saw the categories medical supplies, food stuffs and survival gear and items listed neatly underneath each category.

Turning away from the list he controlled his temper and asked, "What do you mean, you need my help." He hated that Logan knew so much about him but it couldn't be helped. Logan paused from scrolling down the list and turned his head to look at him.

"The new Sentinels have attacked in my universe," was all Logan said.

Bruce's jaw tightened and he felt a cold chill of fear as he looked into Logan's eyes to see if he was deceiving him. He knew he wasn't, Logan was many things but he wasn't a liar. Bruce now noticed the tired look in his eyes and that his face was rather more gaunt then the last time he'd seen him. He also realized that he looked freshly showered and that he was wearing Bruce's clothing. Whatever had happened in Logan's universe it was bad.

"What happened?" Bruce asked Logan. Logan sighed then took a deep inhale of his cigar. Bruce noticed that is was one of his expensive Cubans.

"When you brought Trask back, Charles locked his knowledge of the new Sentinels and the artificial kryptonite that make them so powerful up in his mind." Logan ran his hand through his hair. "We let him go after that as we assumed he no longer posed a threat. So he must've sent the blue prints and information needed to create the nearly indestructible robots back to my universe before you got him or somebody from your universe sent the information."

Logan looked hard at Bruce for a moment and Bruce suddenly understood his innuendo and shot Logan a nuclear powered batglare. _How dare he even think I would betray another universe like that especially after all they had been through, _he thought.

"Sorry Bruce, I know you would never do something like that and I know you would have warned us if you knew somebody in our universe had that information. It's just that things got really bad really fast and we don't know how or who to trust." Logan stated.

Bruce was still angered by the accusation. "I can't believe you even considered that I would do something like that. You shared my mind and probably know me better than anybody. You know I hate to see people suffer."

"Sorry, but I have to cross off everyone on the list that has had access to the technology. Like I said things are bad and Charles has mysteriously vanished.."

Bruce interrupted him."Charles is missing?"

"Yes, he disappeared about two and a half months ago, just before the Sentinels came out in force." Logan said and Bruce saw the look of pain in his tired eyes before he closed them. Then he opened them and gave Bruce a hard stare. "You can read about all that happened in a bit." He held up a USB drive. Bruce nodded his head, he was very interested in reading what was on the drive.

Alfred cleared his throat to gain the attention of the two men as he was carrying a tray full of food. "Sorry to interrupt Master Bruce but Master Howlett is obviously in need of nourishment," he said as he placed the tray down on the computer console. Logan dug into the food, like the starving man that he was, barely bothering with the utensils.

Bruce turned and looked at Alfred expecting an explanation. "He came knocking at the door sir in a desperate state and he clearly knew you and your secret so I took him in. Besides, I would never turn away a person in such dire need."

"Is that why he is wearing my clothes as well?" Bruce asked his butler.

Alfred nodded his head. "I am afraid his were in a sorry state but luckily you two are about the same size." Alfred whispered. Bruce knew luck had very little to do with it.

Logan looked up from the food and paused a moment to swallow before growling, "I'm hungry, not deaf so please stop talking about me as if I am not here." With that statement he returned to his eating.

"I need to change so why don't you finish your meal and I will be back in about fifteen minutes." Bruce said to him as he headed for the Cave's locker room. He removed his batsuit and stored it in a cabinet then he took a quick shower. He pondered what Logan had told him so far. Logan's world was being over run with those heartless Sentinels. He thought about what could've happened here if they hadn't stopped them and Bruce shuddered at the thought. How were those Sentinels built without anyone noticing them? He knew from his link with Logan's mind that there was meta, or mutant as they call them in his universe, hatred on his world. A hell of a lot more than was here as mutants were often ostracized and feared by the public.

Maybe a shadow government was responsible. The Question had found some intel on a shadow organization set up to monitor the Justice League especially now that they had increased their numbers. He called it Cadmus. The information he had been gathering was actually starting to worry Bruce. If this was happening here where metas were more liked he was sure that it was probably worse in Logan's universe. He exited the shower and took a lose pair of black jogging pants and a matching sweat shirt from one of the lockers. He quickly dressed and put on socks and gym shoes before returning to his computer and Logan.

Logan was still sitting in his chair drinking a beer with a very satisfied look on his face.

"Wish we had an Alfred at the mansion." Logan said before a look of pain crossed his face.

Bruce surmised that something bad had befallen the mutant's home but he refrained from asking. He knew the pain of losing your family right before your eyes. He gave Logan a moment to settle his emotions before telling him something he had been wanting to say since he arrived in the cave, "Get out of my chair."

Logan raised an eyebrow and smirked as if challenging Bruce to make him move.

"If you want my help you will move... NOW!" Bruce threatened. Logan sighed and rolled his eyes but he did vacate the chair. Bruce took his seat and started to look at the list of supplies Logan had typed into the computer.

"This is quite a list of supplies. It is going to cost me a lot of money especially for the pharmaceuticals." he grumbled.

Logan just smiled at him. "I know you can afford it. This is just a drop in the bucket compared to what you spend on Batwings in a year." Logan teased which earned him a glare from Bruce.

"I maybe rich, but some of this stuff is going to take time to get. The medical supplies will take at least week..." Bruce sighed. "I don't mind spending the money but I will have to route the orders through some dummy corporations and government red tape can slow down getting large supplies of drugs but I'll see what I can do." Logan nodded his head in understanding. Logan knew he would help them, that was Bruce's way, he just liked to grumble about it.

Bruce started typing rapidly pulling up files and then placing orders. He soon had everything ordered and it would all be delivered to a few warehouses on the edge of Gotham. He used some short cuts to expedite the delivery.

"Okay that is done. Now I would like to see what you have on the USB drive," he said as he held out his hand. Logan handed it over to him. Bruce shoved it into the console and started to read the information on it.

Basically the Sentinel's appeared almost out of nowhere according to a newspaper article contained on the drive. Strangely the Sentinels hadn't immediately gone after the mutant population but hit military bases around the world first. Only a few countries were able to repel the Sentinel's for a while. America was the last military to hold out.

Bruce continued to read, the Sentinel's numbered close to 250,000 at last count. He turned and looked at Logan in shock.

"How could they build so many in such little time?" Bruce asked him in awe. Logan shrugged his shoulders.

"Beats me Bub, reliable news has been hard to come by as of late since most news agencies have been destroyed. Most of the information we have is nearly three weeks old. There could be millions of them by now." Logan said as he tightened his fists. Bruce turned back and read more.

Bruce continued to read and started to believe that his theory that a shadow organization in the government was responsible. Most of the politicians had been strangely supportive of the new Sentinel's assuring the public that they were there to protect them in case of a mutant uprising. Hell they allowed the Sentinel's access to their military bases, that was until they turned on the men and women that allowed them access to the bases. Bruce shook his head at the images on the drive. The Sentinel's looked almost like the ones from here, but colored slightly differently with a slightly different design. Then one picture made Bruce's blood run cold.

He stared at the image of a destroyed Sentinel, its power core was kryptonite. Bruce looked at Logan and Bruce knew now that this technology came from this universe.

"How did you get here. I destroyed the portal in South America?" Bruce finally asked him.

"An old Indian named Forge got the plans for the portal from Hank before..." Logan paused and swallowed hard before continuing. "He created it. I will return tomorrow night and come back when the shipment is ready." Bruce nodded his head in understanding.

"Tomorrow we will talk to the League about assembling a team to go back with you to help."

Logan rubbed his chin before he stated, "Listen, this is our fight... I just came here to get supplies which is more than enough help..." Bruce held up a hand to stop Logan from talking.

"You helped us, we will help you. Besides I can't let that much kryptonite exist as it could kill Superman and Supergirl if ever brought to this universe." Bruce told him.

"You care very much for your friends," Logan said as he took a deep breath. He sniffed the air a few times and smiled. "And I can tell you care about that long legged beauty in the star-spangled panties. Her scent is all over the Cave." Logan gave Bruce a lecherous look which earned him another glare from Bruce.

"We have a mission to accomplish, my personal life is off limits." Bruce said heatedly.

"We shared memories bub, nothing is off limits to me concerning you. I saw all those hot dreams that you had about Diana, kinda makes the sex you had with Selina seem tame in comparison though I wouldn't complain about having Selina in my bed. So was Diana as sweet as you imagined?" Logan asked with a lecherous smile then said. "I honestly don't know how you got any sleep thinking about those juicy..."

Bruce stood up in a fit of rage knocking his chair over in the process but Logan just started laughing. Bruce then gave him an evil smile and said, "Well your dreams about Jean and Ororo were worse. I wonder if they know that you fantasize about them doing...."

"Shut the fuck up, you made your point," Logan growled. They both glared at each other for a second before moving on.

"When can we have this meeting with the Justice League?" Logan asked to clear the tension between the two of them.

"I should be able to arrange it for tomorrow evening." Bruce stated as he sat back down and started to type up an email to the other six founding members. Logan watched as Bruce typed up his professional email to the group.

"Not going to send the Princess a special one?" Logan teased which actually caused Bruce to chuckle, their animosity of a few minutes ago gone, as he finished typing the email and sending it to them.

"Why would I have to, she has breakfast here nearly every morning." Bruce said before powering down the computer. Once that was done he stood up and said.

"Guess your going to need a bed for the night. I will have Alfred show you to one of the guest rooms upstairs." Bruce said as he motioned for Logan to follow him.

* * *

"Your playing with fire." a female voice stated.

"She still thinks the illusion is real right?" the man asked with a little concern.

"She does, but her mind is hard to control and there is something there even I can't get past..." she sighed deeply. "Listen I sense a powerful force within her, don't push her too hard."

"Don't fret, we are the masters of this world now. Nothing can stop us." He laughed loudly. His plans for world domination were coming to fruition. Keeping the Sentinels from everyone's eyes had cost a bundle but now money had no meaning when you had the world under your control.


	2. Brothers

A/N: Don't own these character's so don't sue me.

Many thanks to DaisyJane for the beta. DJ truly is a poet with words! Can't wait for the next update to Troia DJ! Thanks to Lady Isis for your input and time, loving the new story so far Isis! Stop fighting all those criminals in Birmingham!

Enjoy all.

**Dark Claw 2: Sentinels Hellfire Rising.**

**Chapter 2: Brothers**

Diana exited the newly installed teleporter and headed directly to the stairs leading up to Wayne Manor. Bruce had created the technology using a hybrid of Kryptonian science he acquired when he was possessed by Brainiac and Rann technology that was a gift from Adam Strange for the League's help with a crisis on their home planet. Alfred met her half way down the stairs.

"Good Morning Your Highness. You're here earlier than usual," Alfred said, actually sounding a bit surprised.

Diana gave Alfred one of her brightest smiles."Sorry I'm early, but Bruce sent the founding members an email earlier this morning. I'm just curious what the meeting is about. Do you know anything?"

"Indeed, miss," Alfred said as he guided Diana up the stairs and into the Manor. Once the clock entrance closed Alfred spoke as they walked to the kitchen.

"Master Logan Howlett showed up last night," he said and saw the surprise in Diana's eyes. Alfred continued to tell her all he knew.

As Diana listened to Alfred explain what he knew she could feel herself growing more and more concerned about Logan's world. As he finished his tale, he poured a cup of coffee and a cup of green tea and handed them to Diana.

"Why don't you go up and wake Master Bruce, Your Highness, I sure he will be in a better mood if he awakens to your beautiful face," Alfred said with a twinkle in his eye. Diana winked at Alfred and turned on her heels with the two cups in her hands.

She quietly opened Bruce's bedroom door and gingerly placed the two cups on one of the side tables next to his bed. Diana stared at the peaceful face of her lover, he looked so much different when he slept. Gently and as quietly as she could, tried to get close to Bruce without disturbing him. Diana almost managed to touch him before a hand shot up and gripped her wrist, pulling her down on top of him.

"Diana?" Bruce's tired voice asked as he smiled up at her.

"You're lucky I wasn't a killer," Diana smirked. "I almost had you."

"Never in a million years, Princess," he smirked as she gave him a playful pout. He pulled her towards him tenderly kissed her lips. She deepened the kissed and Bruce pulled her fully onto the bed and flipped her under him. He stared into her deep blue eyes and stroked a few strands of her long curly raven hair from her face.

"So Alfred fill you in?" Bruce raised an eyebrow knowing Alfred most likely informed her of Logan's visit. Diana nodded her head then looked serious.

"Alfred says that the robots are like the ones from here. With the kryptonite powering them, they are much harder to kill than the original ones from his world," Diana said. Bruce nodded his head.

"Yes, they are pretty much the same, they just had some slight differences in their design..." Bruce exhaled loudly, "...but what is most disturbing is how quickly and quietly they were produced. Hundreds of thousands of them seemed to come out of nowhere."

Diana looked at him in shock and said, "How is that possible? Do you think they had help from someone in our universe."

"I haven't ruled out Lex Luthor which makes me concerned about what he got in return. It is also possible that Trask sent the schematics to his universe before we captured him or his allies found a way to extract the information from his mind. All I know for sure is that Logan's world is in big trouble."

"We have to help them," Diana said with determination. Bruce smiled, the woman in his arms was so selfless. Always thinking of others before herself, a true hero.

"Yes that is why I'm calling the meeting," Bruce said as he inhaled her intoxicating scent from her hair. _How can she always smell of jasmine?_ He asked himself as he kissed her again before rolling to the side and allowing her to curl against him.

Diana stroked a scar on his chest before saying, "You have my vote for it. I know Clark will vote for it also." Diana absently kissed the scar she had been stroking on his naked chest, which sent shivers of pleasure down his spine. For a moment he contemplated sex but knew there wasn't time ,so he focused his mind on their conversation.

"It will be six to one for it," Bruce told her. Diana lifted her head up and looked at him in question.

"I don't think Hawkgirl will vote for it," he explained.

"You think she be against lending aid to them?" Diana questioned.

He sighed and then explained. "Hawkgirl has been acting strange as of late."

Diana had to agree as her once close friend seemed to be pulling away not just from her but the entire League. Hawkgirl had not been happy when they voted to expand the League and had made her disapproval clear. Diana had been meaning to find time to talk to her about it but with starting a relationship with Bruce and training new recruits in the League she hadn't found time. Now with the Sentinel crisis it would have to wait again.

"You're right about Shay and I haven't had time lately to find out what is bugging her," Diana said with a sigh.

Bruce took a deep breath as he thought about the trouble ahead and smelled the wonderful aroma of fresh brewed coffee and said. "Hmm, smells like fresh coffee."

Diana lifted her head and smiled at him before getting up and grabbing the steaming hot mug. Bruce pulled himself up into a seated position and took the offered mug in his hand. Diana picked up her green tea and sipped.

"I'm going to be busy this morning as we don't know how long we will be in Logan's universe. So I'm going go into work and give Lucius Fox some cock and bull story to cover my leaving for an unknown time period. I will also have to contact Dick and have him take over patrols of Gotham," Bruce said, then took a drink of the jet black coffee.

Diana nodded her head, lucky for her she was a full time superhero and had no other responsibilities. She envied her fellow heroes that had a life outside the League. She had been debating about getting a job and experiencing the more normal aspects of Man's World but she couldn't do that as Wonder Woman. She'd need another identity and she had no idea how to go about getting one. For now she would just have to be content with the way things were.

Diana and Bruce continued enjoy their hot drinks and talk until Alfred showed up with a silver tray full of food. The couple enjoyed their breakfast and discussed League business and what they would need to do to help the X-Men.

Alfred handed Bruce his briefcase and brushed a speck of dust off his shoulder. "Alfred, Logan needs all the sleep he can get so make sure he isn't disturbed," Bruce commanded.

Alfred gave Bruce the _I am not an idiot_ look. That simple look chastised Bruce for thinking Alfred didn't know better.

"Of course, Master Bruce," Alfred said with a slightly sarcastic inflection in his voice. Bruce knew it was time to leave and quickly got into his car and drove to work.

---

Logan woke up at around two in the afternoon and slowly crawled out of bed and stretched. He still felt groggy. Bruce had the most comfortable beds in the universe and he'd had the best sleep he'd had in a long while. It seemed to him that he had been at full throttle forever. Since his link up with Bruce Logan felt responsible for everyone around him. Which was odd because normally he only looked out for number one.

Logan heard a knock on the door before it opened and Alfred stood at the doorway looking at him."Master Howlett, are you hungry?" Alfred asked pleasantly.

Logan nodded his head as he ran his hands through his messy hair. _How did he know I was awake? _he wondered before Alfred spoke again. "Perhaps you should have a shower, it will take me fifteen minutes to prepare you a meal," Alfred said as he walked into the room and opened a door. Alfred then turned on his heels and left.

Logan stumbled to the open door and looked inside. _Damn, this bathroom is larger then my cabin,_ Logan thought, _and nicer than the showers in the cave_. The hot water felt like heaven as it cleared his mind. He was edgy to get back to his world so he could see if Jean had returned from her mission to find Charles. He was also worried about Ororo. As a team leader she had been in charge since Charles disappeared and with him gone she had no one with which to share the burden. He was worried that she would take on too much as was her nature. He also hoped that Forge's shield was still blocking the Sentinel's from being able to detect the mutants there.

Logan got dressed and made his way down the stairs to the kitchen. Alfred had just finished frying the eggs and he placed them on a large plate. There was a mountain of bacon and toast along with the eggs as well as juice and coffee and fruit salad. Logan ate until he couldn't take another bite.

"Thanks, Alfred," Logan said then burped. Alfred gave him a look that made his blood run cold and Logan felt embarrassed as his antics. "Excuse me," Logan whispered in shame. Alfred's disapproving look disappeared. "Where's Bruce at?" Logan asked.

"He had to go to work to clear his schedule," Alfred told him. "If I may, sir..." Alfred said as Logan gave him a inquisitive look. "The uniform you wore here. I had a few spare moments and repaired and washed it," Alfred said as he turned and left a confused Logan.

His old X-Men uniform that he'd worn here was almost rags, the fighting and survival had been more important than washing and mending clothes. He figured that Alfred had just thrown it away as it was barely holding together. Alfred returned a minute later holding in his hands the what looked like a brand new uniform. Alfred handed it to Logan, Logan slowly unfolded the two pieces of clothing. They looked brand new, expect for a few stitch marks here and there.

Logan looked at the man in awe. "Alfred, you are truly a god send. If you ever get tired of Bruce's behavior you can put my name at the top of the list of possible employers. I'm not rich you know but I would find someway to pay you," Logan told the man. Alfred's shoulders squared more.

"Thank you for the complement, Master Howlett, but Master Bruce would probably burn down the house without my presence, and I feel obligated to his parents to make sure that doesn't happen," Alfred stated in a such a serious tone it caused Logan to laugh. Logan remembered from the mind link the few times Alfred tried to show Bruce how to cook.

"I believe you, old man, Bruce is many things but a master chef he is not," Logan chuckled.

Logan put on the suit and tested it in Bruce's training area in the Cave. Logan was eating another meal when Bruce arrived home.

"My schedule is clear for the next two weeks," Bruce said as he walked over to the phone on the wall. He picked up the receiver and made a call.

"Dick, this is Bruce... I am leaving on an off-world mission in a few days... I know but this is very important... No you can't go... Because I need for you to take care of patrolling Gotham with Tim and Barbara for as long as I'm gone." Bruce listened as Dick talked back. "That's blackmail... Of course I need your help... I know the League can use somebody with your skills, but... No, not the Reventon you can use the Gallardo... Why?! ...Because I just bought the Reventon and I don't want you crashing it," Bruce said harshly.

Logan could see that Dick was giving Bruce a hard time and he tried not to laugh. _Give him hell, boy wonder, he will respect the effort,_ Logan thought to himself.

"Fine, I will nominate you for membership in the League at the next Justice League meeting but another senior member of the League will have to approve your admission... She did, did she?" Bruce let out a little growl. "And you can use the Gallardo for a month but if you damage it it is coming out of your inheritance, do I make myself clear? See you soon."

Bruce sighed as he banged the phone back on the hook. Logan chuckled and he received a glare from Bruce. "My son and girlfriend are colluding behind my back," he growled.

"Why isn't he already in the League? He has been fighting crime for what, ten years now? That's longer than some of the other members in the League," Logan said.

"You sound like Diana," Bruce said as he rubbed the back of his neck, he didn't like being blackmailed.

"She is a very smart _and_ beautiful woman. She knows what she is talking about so why isn't he in the League?" Logan continued to question.

"I have my reasons," Bruce simply stated.

Logan smirked. "Bruce, remember we are like brothers now. I know most of your secrets as you know most of mine. Face it, Dick is a man now and not a boy. He is a very competent crime fighter and the League will be lucky to have his skills added their own," Logan said. "You should be happy that he wants to help people and not just look out for himself. He could just sponge off you and watch cartoons all day. You should be proud of what a fine man he is."

Bruce stared at Logan with a inscrutable expression before he stalked out of the room. Logan just shook his head and was grateful he didn't have a son to worry about.

---

Logan was wearing his mended yellow and blue costume as he and Batman walked the hallways of the Watchtower. Logan smirked at the wide berth everyone gave Batman and himself. Bruce was feeling annoyed by Logan's attitude of omnipotence. Just because they shared minds did not make him an expert on Bruce's life. They entered the conference room and Batman motioned for Logan to take the seat next to him. They were the first to arrive.

Diana and Superman entered next, Superman nodded his head at Logan and took his seat at the table. "Superman, could you meet me tonight in the normal place?" Batman said cryptically. Superman simply nodded his head, no questions asked.

Diana sat on the other side of Bruce as Logan softly chuckled and Bruce turned and glared at him. Logan just smirked back.

"Something funny?" Superman asked him. Logan smiled but shook his head. Bruce's hands curled into tight fists as he controlled his temper. Logan was acting like a little brother, even if he was a hell of a lot older than Bruce. Little brothers just had a way of annoying the hell out of you.

Flash came zipping in and froze at the doorway once he saw Logan sitting there. Flash slowly took a seat next to Superman. J'onn, John and Hawkgirl entered next. J'onn wasn't surprised to see Logan as he was there when they transported up to the Watchtower. Besides he was a telepath and would have sensed Logan's presence. Hawkgirl paid no attention to Logan as she seemed to be deep in thought. She was again behaving like she was in her own world. John gave Logan a hard stare but took his seat without saying a word.

Batman stood up once everyone was there. "I will cut right to the point of this meeting. The Sentinel's we fought here a few months ago have taken over Logan's world." Everyone was shocked at the news. They had barely won the battle against the robots and could only imagine the world over run by them.

Batman strolled over to a large display and pressed a series of buttons on the console pulling up the information that Logan had given him. "As you can see they are slightly different in design then the ones that we battled, but they are just as lethal and the reason we need to go there and help them is because of this." Batman clicked on another button and the screen showed the destroyed Sentinel with the kryptonite power core.

Superman crushed the edge of the table with his hands and Batman spoke quickly to calm the mighty Kryptonian. "Wolverine and I think Trask sent back the information on the Sentinels to his world before we captured him. I should have been more thorough in making sure none of the information was sent to the X-Men universe," Batman said in frustration.

Clark stood up and shook his head. "Br.... Batman." Clark caught himself, only Diana, Logan and he knew his secret identity. Well maybe J'onn also. "You did your best and not even you can know everything. We will do whatever we have to to help them get their world back," Superman said as he placed a hand on Bruce's shoulder.

Wally stood up and voiced his opinion. "Hell, yeah. The fastest man alive will help!" Flash said with passion. Everyone else stood and nodded there heads except Hawkgirl. She was standing with the rest but didn't voice her opinion.

"Hawkgirl, are you with us?" Diana asked while giving her a sisterly look.

Hawkgirl looked like she was deep in thought as she stared at her friend with a small distracted frown. Then she seemed to pull herself together and smacked her mace in her palm before saying with a roar, "Let's kick some Sentinel butt."

Diana's eyes sparkled as she looked at Batman and Superman. She gave Bruce a wink and a smirk appeared on his lips. Guess he was wrong about Hawkgirl voting against it. Bruce turned to the screen and pressed a few more buttons.

"Here is who I think should also come with us." A list with pictures of the heroes he and Logan had picked out scrolled down the screen.

"I will talk to them," Superman said confidently. Batman knew if Superman asked them ninety percent of the League would jump at the chance to work side by side with him. Logan stood up and coughed what sounded like 'Nightwing' and then gave Batman hard stare.

_Not now_ was all Bruce thought but Logan opened his mouth. "Batman also has one other piece of business to discuss with you as well," Logan said as he retook his seat.

Batman mentally sighed out then said. "I would like to nominate Nightwing for membership to the Justice League." He gave Logan the batglare as he said the words.

Wonder Woman immediately seconded his nomination earning her a little scowl from Batman. A smile spread across Superman's face as he said. "I vote in favor. All in favor?" Everyone's hand shot into the air. Superman leaned closer to Bruce and whispered, "About time."

Batman's jaw tightened as now Dick was in the league and there was nothing he could do about it. Damn Logan for not letting him stall until he could come up with a way to weasel out of it.

"What made you change your mind, Bats? When I mentioned nominating him you threa..." Flash shut up when he got a full-blown Batglare with a growl from Batman. Batman stared at Flash for another ten seconds before he turned on his heels and left the room in a huff. He could sense Logan following him out of the room.

"See it wasn't that hard, was it?" Logan said clearly enjoying pushing Bruce's buttons. Batman stopped dead and slowly turned and pointed a finger at Logan.

"If Nightwing gets killed, I will come after you," Batman threatened.

"Listen. bub..." Logan growled as he stormed towards him. "Don't be trying that shit on me. I am not afraid of you." Logan had reached Bruce and was about to poke his finger into Batman's chest when he felt his legs knocked out from under him. He landed hard on his back. Logan groaned as he hit the metal floor but he brought his leg up kicked Bruce in the face before quickly rolling himself back onto his feet.

"You just made the biggest mistake, bub," Logan spit out as he charged at Bruce. Logan was good probably better then most with his hands in a fight, but Bruce had spent a hell of a lot more time mastering hand to hand combat. Logan nailed Bruce again with a solid punch that send him against the metal wall. Logan went to pin his neck against it but his hand was slapped away and soon his face was being smashed into the wall.

Superman came flying out of the conference room after hearing the commotion. Diana and Flash right behind him. Clark dragged Bruce off Logan as he was trying to get out of Bruce's choke hold.

"ENOUGH, YOU TWO!" Superman yelled out. It was like trying to control two wild animals. Lucky the claws hadn't come out.

Diana grabbed Logan as Superman held Bruce. The two super strong heroes where having a bit of difficulty from containing the two. They didn't want to hurt them in the process of stopping their fight.

"He started it!" Logan yelled out as he pointed his finger at Bruce. Bruce relaxed once Superman pulled him far enough away.

"Calm down, Logan. I won't have the two of you destroying the Watchtower. Remember we are on the same side," Superman said. Logan grunted as he relaxed his posture.

"You're lucky, pal, your friends were here to help you," Logan threatened.

Bruce smirked as he replied, "I wasn't the one being choked until he passed out." Logan's lip sneered but he shut up.

"I'm going home. I will come back in three days." Logan shook off Diana's hands.

Batman asked him, "You still have the new coordinates?"

"Yeah."

"I will escort you back to the gateway location then." Logan nodded his head as the two walked side by side to the teleporters.

Diana and Clark shook their heads at the behavior of those two. "They act like just brothers," Flash said as he shook his head.

Diana and Clark had to agree with that statement.

---

A couple dressed in Victorian style clothing was having a candlelight dinner in what looked like an oceanside gazebo.

"How is the chicken, my dear?" the man asked the red haired woman. She was playing with the food with her fork.

"Good," she quietly said. The man looked concerned.

"Are you feeling all right?" the man asked her.

The woman placed her fork down and looked across to her companion. She hated to complain to the man she loved, but felt she needed to.

"I had that same dream last night..." she said in a small, scared voice. The man pushed his chair back and walked over to his dearest. He bent to one knee and grabbed her hand.

"Tell me about it, my love," the man asked her.

"The man with the red eye was chasing me, I could not get away from him until I awoke," she said as she started to cry. The man hugged the woman.

"It was a dream my love, I promise you that no one will ever hurt you," he said as she shivered but nodded her head against his chest. "Why don't you go and rest my love, you are still weak from when I found you injured." The woman stood up and smiled at the kind man. She kissed the man that had captured her heart and left for her private room.

The man watched as she slowly walked back to the main house. Another woman came from the darkness and stood next to the man.

"She is slowly starting to remember," the woman said.

The man hissed without turning to look at her. "Use more of the drug on her then."

"She is near the limit, if we use more it is possible that she will die," the woman said in shock.

"She is either with us or against us. If the drugs kill her then so be it," he said as he walked away. The woman stared at him as he walked away. _What a fool, _was all she thought to herself.

**A/N: Next chapter we get to meet the resistance.**


	3. Rough

A/N: Don't own these character's so don't sue me.

Many many thanks to DaisyJane for the beta. Also for her input and time. And many thanks to Lady Isis for her help and advice. Don't know why either of you fine and intelligent ladies help a bumpkin like me??? But I'm very honored and humbled that you do. :)

Enjoy all.

**Dark Claw 2: Sentinels Hellfire Rising.**

**Chapter 3: Rough.**

After their confrontation on the Watchtower, Bruce and Logan transported back to the Cave. They had moved passed the anger of the fight to giving each other shit as Logan said, "You know I would have gotten out of that choke hold even without the Boyscout's help."

Bruce smirked and said, "Yeah right." He knew that he had the hold locked in and no one would have gotten out of it without class-A meta strength.

"Where is the portal located?" Bruce asked to change the subject as he didn't want to start another fight or argument.

"In the woods located on the grounds of Wayne Manor, I marked the trees and left a scent trail," Logan said, which caused Bruce to raise an eyebrow in question. Logan laughed as he said, "I urinated next to it, I don't have fancy homing beacons like you."

Bruce was just glad he hadn't defecated there instead and with their heightened sense of smell they should be able to find the spot. Bruce walked over to a table and lifted a large box Alfred had prepared for Logan's departure. He handed the large three foot square cardboard box to him.

"It isn't much, but I hope it can tie you and your friends over until I can get the rest of the items that I ordered," Bruce said unhappy with the little amount he could offer at the moment.

Logan felt the weight of the box. There must have been sixty pounds of stuff in it. They made their way back up to the Manor and left out the back door and moved into the shadows. The odds of them being spotted by anybody on the private grounds was minimal but Bruce was still careful. They walked to the edge of the woods and entered them at a spot that had three claw cuts on a tree. They followed the trees that had slashes in them until they both picked up Logan's scent trail. Logan stopped and turned to Bruce once they reached the portal.

"I will be back in three days. I hope you have the supplies by then. Our encampment has nearly five hundred people staying there and we are getting a bit desperate," Logan said.

Bruce nodded his head. "I will make sure to have them in three days, even if it costs me a little extra. Stay safe until then, Logan. The League will be ready to come as well," Bruce told him.

Logan nodded his head and turned toward the portal. "Thanks, Bruce ... I don't know if we can defeat these Sentinels even with the League helping... If I don't show up someone else from my team will... The password will be brothers in claws," Logan said as he turned his head and smiled at Bruce.

Bruce returned the smile, feeling that connection they both now had. The mind link allowed them to experience each others lives in a unique and thorough way. They were as close as brothers as they both had shared each other's lifetime of pains and triumphs as well as knowing the others loves and the grief of their mutual losses. Logan stepped through the portal and disappeared. Bruce returned to the Cave research ways to expedite getting the needed supplies before he had to meet with Superman.

Batman was looking down at his city when he heard the flutter of a cape in the wind.

"You're late, Kent," Batman said as he turned around and watched Superman land.

Superman crossed his massive arms across his chest. "Yeah right. So what was it you wanted to talk about?"

"Luthor... We need to find out what he knows of Trask's allies in the other universe and what he may have gotten from them. Besides if we make him think we are on to him he may panic and make some big mistake and we can nail him." Bruce said stoically as he raised his arm in the air and fired off his grappling hook. The hook attacked to the Batwing.

* * *

Superman followed the Batwing as they flew to Metropolis.

On minute Lex Luthor was sleeping peacefully the next he was cold and hanging upside down with a rope tied around his feet. He looked down and realized he was being dangled from the roof of his penthouse apartment in one of the tallest buildings in Metropolis. Superman was hovering in front of him.

"Looks like the drugs have worn off," a deep voice from above him said. "Time for our little talk."

Lex lifted his head to his chest and saw the white lenses of Batman's cowl. "Let me down this instant," he threatened.

Superman folded his arms across his chest and raised an eyebrow at him. "How many times do I have to warn you that I will not allow you to achieve world domination, Lex?" Superman asked him.

Lex sneered as he replied. "What are you rambling about?"

Batman dropped the rope around Lex's feet a few inches as Lex flailed his arms around. "We know you're part in the Sentinel program, Luthor," Batman growled.

"I have no idea what you're talking about?" Lex said coolly. "And I will see that the police are informed of your assault."

Superman smirked as he held out an order sheet from Lex Corp. "This purchase order says you sent supplies to Trask Industries."

"Lex Corp does a lot of business with many different vendors, I don't know all of them," Lex said.

Batman dropped Lex a few inches and his eyes widened but he showed no other reaction other than a smirk. "Strange thing is that Trask Industries doesn't exist in this dimension. Seems like someone in your corporation is doing inter-dimensional business. Your sales people are really taking finding new markets to the next level." Batman said sarcastically, "I will find out everything, Luthor, then you will be spending a long time in jail."

Lex maintained his bored expression. "Are you two done yet? I'm starting to get cold."

Superman grabbed the rope and pulled him up towards Batman. After Luthor was on his feet Batman grabbed him by the collar and shoved him over the edge of the roof.

"Scum like you could be making the world a better place, instead you use your money and power to create destruction and chaos which is now affecting other worlds." Batman pulled Lex's face close to his. "We know Bolivar Trask had access to your most encrypted databases, Lex. We also have him in custody. He's been telling us a lot about his and your operations in Argentina," Batman smirked.

Lex's eyes narrowed a bit and his mouthed tightened briefly before returning to it's coolly neutral expression. Most people would have missed his reaction but most people weren't Batman and Superman.

"So this Trask is some kind of computer hacker as well. I will have to make sure our firewalls are stronger. Thanks for informing me about this menace. He seems to be some piece of work. You know of course whatever information he acquired illegally is inadmissible in court." Lex said with a smug smile.

Batman pulled him back from the ledge and shoved him away. He smirked at Lex. "I would suggest you get better security, Lex. We're going to be watching you very closely," he threatened. With that, Batman shot off his grappling hook and swung away. Superman followed Batman and flew off. Lex stood on the rooftop of his building staring at the two men as rage boiled in his belly.

_No one does this to Lex Luthor, no one_! he thought. His anger combined with fear knowing that the League was on to him. With their increasing numbers they had the man power to really go after him. He didn't want them finding anything especially that warehouse full of artificial kryptonite. Maybe it was time to accept Amanda Waller's offer. He smiled at the thought of taking down the Justice League. He couldn't wait to destroy the super powered freaks.

Luthor frowned as he tried the roof access door, it was locked and he had no way of opening it. He crouched into a ball against the wall and shivered. Hopefully his stupid body guard, Mercy, would discover he was missing soon. He smiled and warmed himself with the plans of what he would do to her for being so careless.

Batman landed on a rooftop near the Batwing which was hovering fifty feet above the building. Superman landed next to him.

"So do you think Lex will be okay up there. It's chilly and he is locked out of the building?" Superman asked Batman.

"The man deserves a lot more then an uncomfortable night in the cold but don't worry I will send Mercy a text telling her where to find him when she wakes up from that punch I gave her. I'm not a complete sadist, Kent, I just want our point driven home." Batman said, then added. "We leave in two days. Make sure your boss and girlfriend understand."

Superman chuckled. "So, boss, can I have time off to save a world?"

"I have already arranged for you to be on a foreign assignment. Now go home and finish that Intergang piece as Perry expects in on his desk by tomorrow." Batman said with a smirk as he fired off his grappling hook and rose into the dark sky towards the Batwing.

Superman rolled his eyes as he flew off home.

* * *

Logan slowly walked through the portal to see Forge crouching next to the suitcase size device that created the invisible gateway. He turned it off and picked up the device while giving Wolverine a smile at his return.

"How did it go? Is that a new uniform?" Forge asked.

"Good and no, a friend cleaned and repaired the old one," Logan said as he marched off towards the camp.

The camp was located deep in the woods of Ontario and was populated by several mutants, their friends and their families as well as strays looking for protection from the Sentinels. "How is the shield holding up and is the generator still working?" Logan asked as the two walked towards the

clearing in their campsite. A little over one hundred tents surrounded the clearing where a single but large fire was burning in the middle.

"The shield is holding up great. That kryptonite generator we took from that Sentinel is fantastic," Forge nearly yelled as his pace was slower then Logan's because of his plastic limb. Logan slowed down to allow his friend time to catch up. "Is that all they could offer?" Forge said with disappointment in his voice.

"No, it will take a few days to get the bulk of the supplies but Bruce is going to get us all we need," Logan said over his shoulder.

"Good because we are running low on the game you caught," Forge said.

"Guess it's time I go on another hunting trip," Logan said as they entered the clearing.

A few heads had popped out of their tents as the two walked along the rows of them. No one had said anything to either man and most returned to whatever they were doing before Logan's arrival. Logan sniffed the air and smiled at Forge. "You got the showers working?"

"Just after you left we managed to piece together a water heater and pump and attach it to the generator so there is plenty of hot water," Forge told him and pointed to two tents that said showers, while another tent said kitchen and both were near the generator which was covered with lead lined box to protect everyone from the radiation. He also saw that they had dug and build a working latrine. Before he left Logan had almost complained about the sour, dirty smell everyone seemed to have, since no one wanted to bathe in a cold river near their camp. Now it looked like they at least had some of the comforts of home.

They reached the fire. Bobby **Iceman** Drake, Warren **Angel** Worthington, Sean **Banshee** Cassidy, Katherine **Shadowcat** Pryde, Remy **Gambit** LeBeau, Anna **Rogue** Marie and Kurt **Nightcrawler **Wagner were sitting on the logs next to the fire. Logan placed the box down next to one of the four logs they used to sit on. Forge pulled out a knife and cut it open. Inside was a few pounds of meat, and forty pounds of potatoes and other odd vegetables and a few spices. There were a few boxes of band aids and other basic medical supplies and a bunch of clean clothing, mostly sweat shirts and pants. Forge frowned and rubbed his chin.

"It looks like all the ingredients for stew which should feed a lot of people," Forge said. Logan nodded his head in agreement.

Remy made a face, "Stew? Pour moi?" he said. Anna gave him an elbow to the ribs as Bobby and Warren chuckled at Remy's rubbing of his side.

"We're lucky there is any food to eat, Remy," she said harshly. Remy gave Anna a puppy dog face and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. Anna rolled her eyes but leaned into the embrace. Most of her adult life she'd had to avoid touching skin to skin with people. It was a lonely life, so even a simple hug lifted her spirits.

A tall slim shadow appeared behind Anna and Remy. "You're finally back, Logan," the female said.

Logan looked at the shadow and smiled at Ororo. "Sorry I was so long but our friend didn't get home until five in the morning," he explained. Ororo nodded in acknowledgement and Logan noticed how tired she looked. She was responsible for so many and the burden weighed heavy on her. Logan was glad that he was back to help her.

"Are Jean and Scott back yet?" he asked.

Ororo frowned and shook her head. "No. I'm starting to worry they might have been caught while

looking for Charles." She let out a weary sigh and her eyes shown brightly in the fire light and he knew she was holding back tears. Logan walked over and took her hand to comfort her and she leaned against him. Anna watched the two wishing Ororo didn't look so sad as it made Rogue want to cry. The past few months had been hell on everyone.

"Don't worry darlin', I'm back and we're safe for the moment. It has only been a few days and when our reinforcements come we can try to communicate with them. Remember J'onn is a powerful telepath," Logan told her.

Ororo wrapped her arms around Logan in a hug and held on tightly. Remy hid a smirk as he watched Logan and Ororo hug. _Those two have been getting a lot closer as of late_, he thought to himself.

"I know, but they should have contacted us by now. There has been no word or telepathic communication from Jean in days," Ororo said. Logan wrapped his arms around her and the two were quiet for a few moments.

"They knew the possibilities of being caught Ororo, but Jean said she felt his presence and there was no stopping her from going after Charles," Logan said trying to comfort her.

Ororo nodded and exhaled deeply as she pulled away from the embrace. "I wish I could have gone with them but I am needed here to help power the shield that hides us if the generator fails," she said.

"We are all needed here to help and protect these innocent people, the needs of many outweigh the needs of one," Logan said as he looked around at the dirty tents.

Ororo frowned at his logic while Kurt said, "Every life is special and important, but we are fighting an enemy with no remorse or feelings. Neither of you can protect every single person affected by this terrible evil," he said as he looked at Logan and Ororo.

"If you save just one of these five hundred or so souls, God will welcome you into his kingdom. For whatever you do to the least of Christ's brothers that you do unto him." Kurt said as he made the sign of the cross and put his hands together in prayer.

Logan opened his mouth but Ororo gripped his hand and squeezed it tightly. He closed his mouth as he knew that Ororo was correct. Everyone needed faith at moments like these, even if Logan didn't

believe in God. He had lived too long and had seen too many of the horrors humanity could do to one another. No God of love could exist that could allow what he'd seen happen or who would allow an eight year old boy to witness his parents' senseless murder. Logan felt a searing pain in his chest as he again remembered and experienced Bruce's most tragic memory.

A mighty crashing sound came from the forest and shook Logan from his reverie. The mutants in the camp jumped to their feet, immediately ready for combat. A moment later a spot light lit up the area where the noise had come from. Logan's extracted his claws and growled. "Sentinels!"


	4. Marvel Times

A/N: Don't own these character's so don't sue me.

Many thanks to DaisyJane for her input, advice and beta! And thanks also to Lady Isis for her input, time and patients with me. hehehe

Enjoy all.

**Dark Claw 2: Sentinels Hellfire Rising.**

**Chapter 4: Marvel Times.**

Logan started yelling as he watched the bright light from the tree line get closer, "Everyone out of your tents and spread out; we are about to be attacked."

Suddenly a shiny metal man emerged from the trees with his hands in the air. "Please don't attack, it's me comrades!" Piotr **Colossus** Rasputin yelled.

Everyone who was getting ready for battle relaxed with a few grumbling angrily about false alarms. Logan noticed that a group of people appeared behind Piotr. The light that had caused the

alarm appeared to be a brightly lit human.

"Everyone can stand down; these guys are allies." Logan yelled. People quickly settled down and returned to their tents while others observed the new arrivals.

Piotr walked towards the camp with the others tailing behind him. "I'm sorry for causing the alarm. I tripped in the dark and knocked over a tree," The giant man said as he rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment.

Logan saw the larger figure of Sasquatch behind Piotr, he towered over the seven foot five inch Russian and Logan knew who the rest of the new arrivals were. They were Alpha Flight, his first mutant team before the X-Men. Jean-Paul **Northstar** Beaubier had been the one creating the light in the woods, which was now gone, as he landed next to his teammates. Jame **Guardian** Hudson spoke as they neared the campsite and Logan.

"Logan it's good to see you." the man said jubilantly. Logan frowned at him and narrowed his eyes, the last time he'd seen Jame he'd kidnapped Logan in an attempt to get him to rejoin Alpha Flight.

"I can't say as I feel the same way as you, Mac, but times like these everyone has to band together." Logan said as he looked at the rest of his ex-teammates with a much friendlier expression, well friendlier for Logan at least. He even gave Heather **Vindicator** Hudson a gentle smile as he looked at the rest of them--Jeanne-Marie **Aurora** Beaubier, Eugene **Puck** Judd, Walter **Sasquatch **Langkowski, Dr. Michael **Shaman** Twoyoungmen. They had followed Jame's orders to capture Logan but once they found out that Department H was trying to brainwash Logan back into the team they'd helped free him.

Eugene ran towards Logan and was about to hug him when he skidded to a halt. He stared up at Logan with large eyes. "What happened to you Logan? You're taller!" Puck said with a little jealously. The rest of the team bunched up around Logan and stared at his taller stature.

"I was genetically merged with another hero from a parallel universe. He got my powers while I got his height and some of his intellect." Logan said. _And some really awful memories to add to my own,_ he thought to himself before adding, "You'll be meeting him and his allies in a few days."

"Still have a few feet to catch up to me." Walter said with a toothy grin.

Logan chuckled and said, "Well Walt not too many people are ten feet tall and a big hair ball." Walter laughed loudly at Logan's usual joke about his fur.

Piotr cut into the somewhat cheerful moment, "I have news from the outside world as well as some supplies. It looks like you are need of some." He and the rest of Alpha Flight took off large backpacks. Warren Worthington spoke when he saw toilet paper.

"Finally some toilet paper for the latrine. I'm tired of looking for leaves big enough to do the job." he said as he grabbed a roll. Logan rolled his eyes and muttered "sissy" under his breath before he turned to Piotr.

"What news did Nick have when you met with him?" Logan asked hoping for news on Jean and Scott.

"He thinks something big is happening in New York because of the reports of large concentration of Sentinel's sighted there." Piotr replied.

"I thought Peter Parker was running that cell?" Ororo stated as Logan nodded his head in agreement.

"Nick says he hasn't had any contract with them in nearly two weeks." Piotr said sounding remorseful.

Logan scoffed. "Parker is a resourceful kid, hell knowing him, he and his band are in the middle of all the trouble. Does Fury know how many Sentinels are in the area?"

Piotr shook his massive head.

Jean-Paul spoke up. "I could do a queek fly by of New York, the Sentinels are queek but not as fast as moi."

Logan shook his head at Jean-Paul's suggestion. "Not know Jean, maybe in the morning," Logan said as he rubbed his chin in thought.

A plan started to form in his mind, another gift from Bruce was his ability to think strategically. When the Justice League got here they would have to go and help Parker. The kid was doing a great job from the sounds of it, but was most likely becoming out gunned big time. He hoped they could get there before anything major happened.

Piotr cut into his thoughts by saying, "The Avengers also reported that they are ready for any offensive attack Nick plans."

Logan smiled. "Good, I think we should contact Nick when the Justice League gets here."

Ororo frowned. "The Sentinels will pick up any radio communications and we don't have any telepaths that are strong enough to send a message to him."

"We will, remember the Justice League has a telepath as powerful as Charles is." Logan said. Ororo smiled as she remembered J'onn from their mission in the Justice League's universe.

Michael Twoyoungmen then spoke, "We should have a feast to celebrate going into battle against this evil foe."

Remy chipped in. "All we have is the ingredients for stew and certainly not enough for a feast."

"We brought supplies as well as some of the comforts of home." Michael said as Sasquatch opened his massive backpack that was the size of a refrigerator. Inside was a large assortment of food and drinks; a twinkle appeared in Logan's eyes as he spotted beer. He reached in a grabbed himself a Molson Canadian.

"You shouldn't have Walter." He said with a wink as he twisted the cap off. He took a large sip and sighed.

"I hope there is enough food for everyone." Walter said as he looked around at the people starting to gather around the hero mutants as they spotted the food and supplies.

Twoyoungmen motioned with his hand for the group to follow him. As they walked into a dark field Michael turned to Jeanne-Marie. "We could use some light." Suddenly the area in a nearly one hundred meter radius was lit up with a soft light.

Michael stopped when they found a flat area of ground. "Jean-Paul I need a circle of stones ten meters in diameter there," he said as he pointed at the ground.

In a blur of white and blue Jean-Paul was gone and back. The circle of stones Michael requested almost appeared as if out of thin air. Everyone watched as Michael slowly started to dance around the circle chanting. With each step his meaninglessness chanting grew louder until fish and other sea creatures started to fall from the sky and into the circle. In under five minutes the entire area within the stones was almost a foot deep with fish.

"Great spell brother," Forge commented. Michael nodded his head in agreement with his fellow Native American brother.

"Make sure to gather all of the fish. We don't need bears or wolves near the camp." Michael said. Everyone pitched in and helped removed the fishy feast.

Many helped clean and cook the fish and other creatures while others prepared other food to be consumed with the fish. Once everyone had their fill and were satisfied the leftovers were stored in a makeshift refrigerator in the kitchen tent as they couldn't afford to waste food. The group of heroes watched as the others returned to their tents to sleep.

Piotr then spoke, "The Avengers told Nick that Banner is M.I.A."

Logan's eye twitched at the thought of Banner. The Hulk was probably the most powerful being on the planet and now he was missing. _Where are you Banner?_ Logan thought.

* * *

Bruce was typing rapidly into his computer as he sent more inquiries to expedite getting the medical supplies for Logan. The food and survival gear would be delivered tomorrow, but Bruce was running into a road block each and every time he tried to rush the medical supplies. Bruce sighed as he closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He only had a few hours before patrol and he wanted to solve this problem short of buying a medical supply company.

He inhaled deeply and his nostrils flared as he took in her scent. He then he heard her coming down the stairs from the manor and soon Diana's lovely voice echoed in the cave.

"Bruce." God, her voice when she said his name had to be one of the sexiest things he'd ever heard.

He turned and looked at her as she stepped close to the computer. Diana made a simple sweater and jeans look like the best couture. Usually with all the beautiful women he met in his life the beauty seemed to fade the more he got to know them. Diana was beauty personified and it glowed from the inside out and never faded. It continued to take his breath away. Diana's lips curled into a smile as she looked at him.

"Yes Princess?" he asked.

"I've been thinking about...I know we have this mission coming up but...I would like to be able to experience Man's World like a regular person and..." Diana looked down and fidgeted with the edge of her sweater. Bruce thought she looked so innocent and adorable at that moment. "...and I want to have a secret identity, so I can have a life outside of the League and being a superhero."

Bruce raised an eyebrow at her request but smirked as he turned and typed a few keys on his keyboard. A large image of Diana's face was displayed on the large display. Diana walked over and placed her hands on his shoulders as she stared at the information on the screen.

"Diana Prince?" she said confused.

"I figured that if you were going to be Bruce Wayne's girlfriend then you would need an identity other than Wonder Woman." Bruce said. Diana wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him on the cheek.

"We will have to create a disguise for you to hide your true identity and then I can create a photo ID for you."

"The name seems fine," she commented as she continued to read the computer file, "You wrote that I have a Doctorate in Ancient Greek history?"

"You know more about Greek history then most professors do, Princess, it is only logical." Bruce said.

Diana nodded her head. "I was born in Greece but adopted by an American couple. So I grew up in Gotham and studied at Gotham University?"

Bruce told her. "It is harder to trace a foreign birth and I have a few friends on the board of Gotham U. I also can hack into their computers and add you to their database of graduated students."

She gently started to massage his shoulders and he nearly moaned in ecstasy. "Thank you Bruce, I wouldn't have known how to do this by myself. I hope this documentation will hold up?"

Bruce could feel himself relaxing at her touch as all the aggravation he felt just minutes ago melted away. "It will Diana. I had my security team at Wayne Enterprises do a check on you and it came back clean. I recommended you for a position as a curator Gotham's Museum of Ancient History. You are scheduled for an interview once we return from this mission."

"Speaking of which, since we both will be busy preparing tomorrow for the mission, I was thinking..." Diana said as she turned him around sat in his lap. "That maybe tonight we have a quiet dinner and stay in. And by staying in I mean your bedroom." Diana said as she ran her tongue along his bottom lip.

Suddenly Bruce didn't feel so tired and he pressed a button turning off the computer's display and placed his hands around her waist. He placed his lips against hers and she gave him a hungry kiss.

"Staying in sounds good. I would enjoy some quality time in my bedroom." he whispered in his deep baritone voice as he nibbled her earlobe. Diana shivered as waves of excitement coursed through her body.

Diana gave him an amazingly erotic kiss and Bruce's senses were overwhelmed by her scent and touch as she said, "Or maybe we can have some quality time right here and right now."

Bruce didn't argue as he felt his shirt being ripped from his body. He just gave into the desires of his warrior princess.

* * *

Over two thousand miles away and in another universe a group of Sentinels where hunting in the dark desert of New Mexico. One spoke to no one in particular as its large eyes lit up the area it was staring at.

"Sector 0-1-9 clear," its mechanical voice rang out. Suddenly a loud roar could be heard in the distance. The dozen massive Sentinels turned their heads toward the sound. A green blur came flying towards the group. It hit one of the Sentinels in its chest and dug into it. A few moments later it exploded, just as the green blur reappeared out of its chest. The eleven Sentinels left opened fire on the creature.

They managed to pin it to the ground, but that only lasted a few seconds until another hair raising roar emitted from the being. It jumped at the closest Sentinel and ripped its way into the metal giant. It too joined its brother as scrap metal. Less then ten minutes later the massive green creature was breathing heavily as it stood on the scrap metal of the last Sentinel.

The Hulk raised his head towards the heavens and yelled as he slammed his massive fists into the large chucks of metal. The Hulk was home but the pain was still there and he couldn't understand why he was still feeling the rage within him. Here is where he felt safe. Something in his subconscious was fueling the unstoppable rage. A single image continued to flash in his anger filled mind; an image that he could not stop. He only knew that he would not rest until every single Sentinel was scrap under his foot and if anyone got in his way they would feel his pain and rage!


	5. Welcome Back and Nice to Meet you

A/N: Don't own these character's so don't sue me.

Many thanks to the talented and incredible DaisyJane for her input, advice and beta! And thanks also to Lady Isis for her input, time and patients with me. hehehe

Enjoy all.

**Dark Claw 2: Sentinels Hellfire Rising.**

**Chapter 5: Welcome Back and Nice to Meet you.**

Bruce managed to get all the supplies together about an hour before the team would meet up with Logan or his representative. The two transport trailers full of the needed supplies where ready to go.

He turned to Dick and said, "Keep Gotham safe, until I return and try not to destroy my Gallardo."

Dick gave him a smirk. "No problem, I have Barbara and Tim's help and we should be able to take care of Gotham while your gone."

Bruce's jaw tightened and his eyes narrowed at Dicks cocky attitude, "Make sure to pay a special visit to the Joker after each patrol. Make sure he is locked up, I don't want you dealing with him alone while I'm gone."

Dick rolled his eyes. "I'm not a rookie Bruce." Dick sighed and glared at his mentor and father figure.

Bruce turned his back to the young man. "Dick I want you to rethink your position on joining the League." Bruce whispered.

Dick looked angry for a moment. "Diana already told me when this mission is over I will be a full time member. Your not going to take that away from me." he said with bitterness in his voice.

Bruce turned and looked at his son. He didn't want him to get killed, the League was a totally different situation compared to Gotham and Bludhaven. The two stared at each other in defiance hoping the other would break.

Dick finally sighed. "Bruce, I know I can handle being in the League, remember I ran the Teen Titans for years."

Bruce shook his head but gave Dick a look of understanding. "I can't run your life Dick. I just don't want you to end up dead or worse.." Bruce exhaled and thought, _you're my son and I love you_.

Dick walked over to Bruce and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Hey Superman wouldn't allow me out on a mission I wouldn't be able to handle. He knows if anything happened to me you would make him pay dearly for it," Dick said with a smile.

Bruce smirked and nodded his head. Dick then said. "You'd better get suited up it's almost time for you to leave. Don't worry about leaving everything up to us as I've got it handled." Dick paused before adding in a more serious tone, "Listen you heal quickly now...but your not invincible...you stay safe." Bruce and Dick looked at each other for a few more moments, neither admitting how much they worried about each other, then with a nod, Bruce turned and went to the changing area.

He looked at the new Batsuit on the hanger, he'd managed to extract a back molar with Diana's help. The tooth had grown back almost immediately. He had taken the tooth to Wayne Tech where some scientist's had been able to extract some Adamantium. They'd managed to replicate the atomic structure into a fine wire type filament. The filament was woven into the new suit. The new suit was five pounds lighter and nearly two thousand times stronger then any other suit he had to date. It should hold up against extreme heat and impacts with out being damaged. He also had new suits made for Nightwing, Robin and Batgirl. He even made Diana's new Batwoman costume made out of it. With Dick joining the League, it made him feel better that he was more protected.

He ran his hand along the glove, he felt the hidden slits for his claws. He wouldn't want to damage the suit when he truly needed the claws.

After suiting up Batman teleported up to the Watchtower. The founding members of the Justice League were to have a quick meeting before they beamed down with the team going to the X-Men universe.

* * *

"I've gotten everyone on the list to agree to come but I'm not allowing Kara on this mission." Superman said with determination in his voice.

"We need every class A meta we can get Superman," John Stewart said. The ex-marine was correct that they would need every big gun they could get there hands on. Superman gave him a harsh look as he didn't need John to support Batman's request.

"Maybe your right Superman, with that much kryptonite in their universe she would be more of a liability." Batman said. Clark smiled and was about to thank Batman when Bruce continued sarcastically, "It's not like there isn't any in this universe to hurt her as well."

Diana stepped in before a battle of wills started. "She is too young for this mission and does not have the experience. It would be foolish to bring her." Batman turned his glare from Superman to Wonder Woman. Diana returned it with her best Princess Royal stare. The trinity was now locked in a battle of wills that none would back down from.

Finally J'onn stepped in tired their foolishness. "Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman you are all correct. It's true we need as many class A metas as we can get, but this mission is to help not win the battle for them and Kara is very young and has not completed her League training."

Batman sighed at the logic and truth of J'onn's statement. They couldn't bring every meta powered hero to rescue Logan and his world because their world would be unprotected.

Hawkgirl decided to put her two cents into the argument. "From the half foot thick report on the X-Men's universe that you gave us Batman, their universe has a lot of A Class metas or mutants as they are called there."

"Fine!" he stated tersely though he didn't like giving in but sighed and added,"You're right they do have a lot of powerful mutants and hopefully Logan has been in contact with them."

Superman stood up. "If we are done, we should get ready to leave. The others are ready to go." He looked around the table as everyone nodded there heads. "Meeting is adjourned." Everyone left to get ready for the mission.

Batman made a beeline to the monitor womb were he found Steel and Mister Terrific. He walked up to the two heroes.

"I want this built in two days," Batman commanded as he handed Mister Terrific a USB Drive.

Steel asked him,"What is it?"

"A multi-dimensional portal and a multi-dimensional communicator." Batman said as he turned and left them to look at the specs.

Captain Atom, Doctor Fate, Dove, Hawk, Elongated Man, Fire, Black Canary, Green Arrow, Atom Smasher and Ice stood near the transporter pad. Batman, Superman and J'onn joined them.

"You all have dealt with these Sentinels when we were in Argentina. This mission is a hundred times worse so be prepared," Superman said.

Ollie raised his hand and said, "Not that I'm not thankful for being included, but what can I do to those metal monsters?"

"You're in charge of inventory." Batman said with a smirk and Ollie just glared at him.

"Green Arrow you will be in charge of supplies, communications and general logistics." Superman said.

Hawkgirl and Flash entered the room and joined the group. "Where is Wondy?" Flash asked. Right on cue Diana entered dressed in full Amazon battle armor. Almost everyone stared at her in shock and even a little fear as they had never seen her dressed this way. Along with the armor Diana was carrying a large shield and sword and had a massive battle ax was strapped to her back.

"Ready Princess?" Batman said admiring her for what she was, a fierce warrior. The armor was beautiful and looked amazing on her. Diana sheathed her sword on her hip and nodded her armor encased head.

They beamed down to the warehouse, the sky was cloudy and gloomy. Two tractor trailers were parked next to one of the buildings.

Batman spoke, "Our ride to the other universe will be here shortly. Superman and Wonder Woman could I have a word with you both." They followed his as he walked off into the recently cut field.

"I need for you each to pull those trailers into the gateway." Batman asked them.

"No problem." Superman said as Diana nodded in agreement. Batman turned and walked over to Green Arrow.

"Arrow the blue trailer contains the supplies the X-Men and their allies need. The yellow one has supplies for our group. Can you handle keeping the supplies organized." Batman said.

"Let me see, blue one for them, yellow one for us. I think I got it." Ollie said sarcastically. Batman gave him a small glare for his attitude before walking away from him.

Twenty minutes later Logan appeared in the middle of the field. They had agreed on the location coordinates before Logan's departure. Batman did not want the others in the League connecting him to Bruce Wayne. Diana and Superman each grabbed onto the front of a trailer and followed the group towards Logan. Batman reached him first.

"Wolverine," Batman stoically greeted him then asked. "Will the trailers fit?" Logan eyed the trailers being pulled towards the portal.

"Nope, but give me a minute and I will have Forge increase the portal's size." Logan said as he turned and reentered the invisible portal. The group waited and less then thirty seconds later Logan reappeared.

"They will fit now. You all can follow me." Logan said as he turned on his heels and crossed through the portal once again. Batman and the rest of the Justice League entered. Diana was next to last to enter as she dragged her trailer with Superman right behind her with his.

* * *

They entered a grassy field on the other side, the sky was bright and cloudless. Right next to it partially in the tree line were the tents and hundreds of people watching them. Wonder Woman and Superman were the last to exit the portal as they were pulling the trailers.

Hawkgirl and Flash looked around at the wooded area and both on them settled their eyes on J'onn. J'onn's face had a serene look to it as his eyes glowed. The most amazing thing about his face was the smile, it was large and pleasant.

Flash was shocked by J'onn's expression and said with confusion, "J'onn yo.. your smiling."

J'onn turned his head and looked at Flash. "It's like being back home on Mars. So many voices." he said in awe and Flash smiled at his friend's joy.

Logan pointed to an area close to the campsite for the trailers to be placed. "You can put the trailers over there." Superman and Diana nodded their heads as they pulled the trailers almost effortlessly towards their destination. "Sure you got enough?" Logan said to Bruce with a chuckle.

Bruce replied stoically. "The blue trailer contains the supplies you asked for, the other one is what I thought the Justice League might need."

Logan smiled and thought, _Typical Bruce, always trying to one up everyone_. "So what is in the yellow trailer?" he asked.

"Portable generators, portable operation room, mini batwing and a few other things we made need." Batman told him.

Logan raised an eyebrow at his answer. "You are expecting the worst?"

Before Bruce could reply a figure descended next to them. Hawkgirl's eyes widened at the sight of a white winged humanoid landing in front of them. The blond haired blue eyed Warren Worthington looked in awe at Hawkgirl and the two took a nervous step closer to each other.

"Hi my name is Warren.." he said as he rubbed the back of his neck. Hawkgirl tightened her hold on her mace, feeling nervous as well. "...but you can call me Angel, everyone else does." He let out a nervous laugh.

"They call me Hawkgirl... are you Thanagarian?" she asked him. There was a legend among her people that a white winged one would bring them peace and prosperity. Warren had the purest white wings that she had ever seen.

Angel looked confused. "No I'm... I guess I'm human but with this mutation." he replied.

Green Lantern watched the exchange and her he had never seen Hawkgirl look so awestruck and fascinated by a guy before. It had taken him months to get her to pay attention to him. Just because this fool had wings didn't mean...John angrily squelched the jealousy rising in him and stepped forward.

"Hello, I'm John Stewart, the Green Lantern for sector 2814," John said more harshly than he intended as he held out his hand. The two shook hands and John couldn't help but put a little extra pressure into his grip.

Suddenly a light blue blur stopped in front of them. "Bonjour amis." Northstar said.

Flash looked the other speedster up and down. "You're fast," Flash said with a smile, exited to have another speedster around.

Northstar smiled and nodded his head and raised an eyebrow as he looked Flash up and down. Northstar greatly admired the way Flash looked in his tight body hugging costume. _He's hot,_ he thought before replying, "Oui, You have zee body of a fast one, no?"

"I'm the fastest man alive." Flash said with a cocky grin and wink which made Northstar's heart race a little faster. "I have yet to reach the limits of my speed."

"I can run at mach 10," Northstar bragged.

"Mach 10 is easy. I could do that in my sleep," Flash boldly stated.

Northstar's eyes widened in disbelief, "But what about zee sonic boom?"

"I'm intangible when I run so no sonic boom. That's probably why there are no limits to my speed," Flash bragged proudly as he stood straighter. Northstar was as impressed as he was turned on.

Remy, Kurt, Sean, and Piotr walked up to the group. Remy whistled as he stared at the legs in fishnet stockings. "Hé bébé, let Remy LeBeau show you to your room." he said with a charming smile at Black Canary.

Green Arrow stepped protectively in front of Canary. "Already spoken for Junior! You can get lost!" he growled.

Dinah shoved Ollie out of the way. "Dinah Lance, and you must be Gambit, I've heard so much about you," she said sweetly as she raised her hand, which Remy captured and kissed. Dinah smiled at Remy, causing Ollie to grind his teeth at her flirtatious display.

"Remy is here for anything you need," he said as he stared at her with lust filled eyes. Dinah nearly laughed out loud but continued her little game for the moment. Dinah was enjoying her revenge against Ollie for flirting with that socialite at the last party they had gone to.

"Anything?" she raised a seductive eyebrow, which caused Remy's grin to grow larger as he nodded his head. "I would love to meet Rogue, you're close to her right." her playful exterior vanished as her voice became serious, causing Remy to nearly fall backwards. Dinah really did want to meet Rogue and get her advice on how she handled having a flirtatious jerk as a boyfriend. Kurt, Sean and Piotr laughed out loud as the rest that had overheard joined in. Ollie's angry face faded away into a bright smile until he caught Dinah's glare.

"I'm right here darlin'." Rogue said in her heavy southern accent as she slowly walked towards the group. Remy slowly turned to see Rogue glaring at him. Remy swallowed and mentally noted to himself that he better stop flirting before Anna broke his neck.

Diana and Superman just finished hauling the trailers into place when they saw a massive figure standing next to the tree line. The furry beast walked tentatively towards the two heroes and he stopped a few feet from them. "Hi... I'm Walter Langkowski, but as you can see..." he moved his hands around his body, "Everyone calls me Sasquatch." He held out his hand.

Superman walked up to him and took the offered hand, amazed at its sheer size. Superman was a very large man, but the man/beast in front of him dwarfed the mighty Kryptonian by more than three and half feet.

"I'm Superman and that is Wonder Woman." he said. Diana walked towards them and offered her hand after brushing them off. The furry beast released Superman's hand and took hers and shook it.

"Pleasure to meet you both. Wish it was under better circumstances." he frowned. Superman looked over and saw that the two teams were mingling and talking to each other.

"Walter why don't you come and meet the rest of our team?" Wonder Woman asked. Walter simply nodded his head as the three moved over to the large gathering of superheroes. Most where simply greeting each other, not knowing what else to do.

Logan spoke once everyone was close by. "We are just going to use our costume aliases. Everyone in agreement?" he said. Everyone nodded there heads.

Diana couldn't stop taking peeks at Ororo. For some unknown reason she felt a sisterly connection with the white haired woman. She had felt it the last time they had met as well. Diana noticed how Storm kept an eye on Logan as he moved around the group making sure everyone knew who was who. The look Ororo was giving Logan made Diana believe that Ororo was in love with him. Diana smiled at the thought that Ororo had strong feelings for that uncouth man. Ororo seemed so elegant while Logan was not. She mentally sighed, why are the bad boys so desirable? Even her mother wasn't immune to it if Hades was any indication. And neither was she if you looked at her feelings for Bruce. The man could be the biggest jackass but other times he could give so much love. Diana walked towards the woman.

"Ororo right?" Diana asked as she stepped closer to Storm. Storm turned her head and smiled.

"Yes and you're Wonder Woman or Diana?" Ororo asked and Diana nodded her head. The two stared at each other for a few moments.

"I don't know why but I feel a connection with you." Diana said with some confusion and Ororo smiled nervously back at her.

"I as well." Ororo said but then a clap of thunder and a flash of lighting interrupted their conversation.

Logan raised an eyebrow at Ororo in question and she shook her head no to indicate that she was not responsible for the display. Logan's eyes narrowed as he thought, _Why were they here?_

A man sat staring at the woman across from him while her green eyes stared lovingly back at him. The two were dressed in dark Victorian clothing and were having dinner alone in a massive dinning room. The two smiled at one another but there romantic evening was soon interrupted by a male voice.

"Isn't this lovely. The world is under your control and you're playing dress up," a man said from the double wide doorway. The man and woman looked at the man in dressed in all white, the white helmet that almost covered his whole head and face was hauntingly familiar to the female. Her beloved did not look happy at this man's interruption of their dinner.

"My lovely Queen why don't you retire to the sitting room where we will have our sherry while I deal with our guest," the man asked her pleasantly.

The woman smiled uncomfortably but stood up. The man mirrored her movements and placed a gentle kiss on her check. She walked past the man dressed in all white. She could not shake the feeling that she knew this man and that he was someone she feared. Why she feared him she just did not know.

Once the two men were left alone, the man dressed in darker clothes growled as he stormed towards the man in white. "How dare you come here unannounced!"

The man in white smirked. "What no greetings to your White King, my dear Black King?" the man said sarcastically.

The other man sneered. "You have Charles and the others, what do you want now!?" the Black King growled.

The White King's smile vanished. "My informant has told me that Logan had brought over some very powerful mutants from the other dimension."

The Black King's eyes flashed with anger. "You disturb my evening over this trifling bit of information. The Sentinels will deal with them soon enough," the man said with a cold smile.

"Like they have with Banner?" the man in white said.

The other man's eyes lit up with rage. "I will admit Banner in his other form is quiet hard to deal with. I will just send more Sentinels to deal with him."

"As you wish, but don't under estimate any of them. I have and lost many times in the past," the man in white said somberly.

"I won't make the same pitiful mistake that you did. No if you will excuse me, I have a dinner guest to attend to." he said as he tried to walk past the White King. The man in white grabbed his arm stopping him. He looked at the White King with contempt for even daring to touch him.

"Your dinner guest..." the White King said as he released his hold on the Black King. "...is far more deadly then anything you have faced before. Tread carefully." He gave this warning then turned and left the Black King.

The Black King growled and thought, s_oon I will not need to pay lip service to this moron._

A woman dressed in white clothing entered the room. "He came with a true warning. I sense a powerful telepath that is equal or greater then Charles is now in this universe," she said.

The Black King waved his hand as if to dismiss her statement and he left her to search for his Queen. The lady in white exhaled deeply as she whispered to herself, "I think I picked the wrong side. It's time to offer my services to the White King."


	6. Avengers Assemble

A/N: Don't own these character's so don't sue me.

Many thanks to the talented and incredible DaisyJane for the awesome beta! And thanks also to Lady Isis for her input.

Enjoy all.

**Dark Claw 2: Sentinels Hellfire Rising.**

**Chapter 6: Avengers Assemble.**

Clouds rapidly appeared over the camp site. Lighting lit up the sky then suddenly a bolt of it hit the ground next to the group of gathered heroes. The lighting twisted into a half dome, forcing everyone to close their eyes. Bruce and Logan, who were next to each other, were the first to reopen their eyes. Because Bruce's cowl had protective lenses for his eyes, he only blinked at the bright light and Logan's rapid healing caused him to do pretty much the same thing. Of course since Bruce now had Logan's ability the lenses were redundant in regards to protecting Bruce's sight but useful for night vision.

Because of these factors they were the first to see the group of people standing there. The massive man in the center was holding a massive hammer high above his head. Bruce knew these people, due to his mind link with Logan, as he stared at them. The man holding the hammer was the Mighty Thor, an Asgard god from the Norse pantheon. The hammer was Mjolnir and it was a powerful magical weapon.

The man in the red and gold metal suit was Anthony "Tony" Stark, also known as Iron Man. According to what Bruce knew about him, Tony Stark was a lot like Bruce Wayne, a playboy with too much time and money on his hands who decided to use his near genius level intelligence fight villains.

The man next to Tony was in a purple and blue costume and carrying a bow. His name was Clint Barton also known as Hawkeye and like Green Arrow from the Justice League universe, he was an amazing archer. Bruce smirked as he thought about how Ollie and Clint would enjoy challenging each other to an archery contest as both thought of himself as being the best.

The small and only female of the group was Janet "The Wasp" Dyne-Pym. Her red and black costume nearly matched her husband's red and blue costume. Hank "Giant Man" Pym, from what Bruce knew, was a scientist who had discovered the particle that allowed him to change size. The particle was named after its discoverer and called the Pym particle.

A robot humanoid that was all green except for his red face was named Vision and, from Logan's memories of him, he seemed like J'onn in a lot of ways. Bruce glanced at J'onn. J'onn was able to pick up Bruce's surface thoughts especially when he didn't try to block them which sometimes made Bruce feel self-conscious. J'onn just nodded to Bruce to reassure him he understood.

The last was a man colored like the American flag with a large A on his costumes mask. He kind of looked like Diana's male counterpart. The bullseye looking shield he held was made from material even stronger then either Logan or Bruce's Adamantium claws making it virtually indestructible. Bruce nearly whispered his name, Captain America.

Thor yelled in his deep and commanding voice, "Greetings mortal champions."

Logan ignored Thor's greeting and growled as he asked, "What are you guys doing here? Aren't you supposed to be protecting the West Coast!"

Tony's helmet split open and part of his face came into view as he said sarcastically, "Oh the little man finally grew, will wonders never cease. It's nice to see you as well, Logan."

"Shut it Stark, I asked why your not protecting the West Coast," Logan asked again. He was irritated that he had to ask twice.

Captain America spoke wanting to stop Tony and Logan from trading insults for half an hour, "Because Nick Fury sent us to help and he said you were planning something big to stop this Sentinels' menace. He thought it best that we help you."

Logan couldn't stand the smirk on Stark's face as Captain America gave a reasonable explanation for their presence, so he continued to glare at Tony.

"Ye need the mightiest warriors, we Avengers are them," Thor added.

Logan smirked at Tony now and said, "We already have the mightiest warriors. I would like for you to meet the Justice League."

Thor raised an eyebrow at the Justice League, "Aye.. there are many of them, but the Avengers are the mightiest."

"I beg to differ Thor. I would like you to meet Superman," Logan said as he pointed to Superman, causing Clark to feel a bit uncomfortable, like a pawn in their verbal sparring match. "He be the mightiest," Logan added mockingly to Thor.

Thor took a couple quick steps towards the mighty Kryptonian as he stared him eye to eye. Clark had no wish to fight their allies and was irritated with Logan for putting him into this position. Captain America stepped in with quiet authority to stop Thor from challenging Superman.

"We are all friends here and have no time to test each others merits. We must focus on the Sentinel threat." Captain America stated giving Thor and Logan both hard stares. Thor held his challenging look at Superman for a few more moments before he stepped away.

"Ye are correct as always," Thor said backing down. The Sentinels were a higher priority than challenging this man to a contest of strength.

Tony said, still with a smirk on his face, as he got closer to Logan, "He doesn't look that impressive. With the name Superman shouldn't he be... I don't know more super?"

"Superman is one of our greatest heroes." Batman said coldly, while Superman was getting sick of their little pissing contest. He decided to talk to Captain American and ignore the others.

"Yes he is a real hero, Stark. Just because he isn't a drunk in a tin can doesn't mean he isn't a hero." Logan said.

Tony turned and fired a blast from his left hand repulsor at Logan, which sent him flying back several feet. Bruce reacted on instinct and punched Tony square in the face knocking him to the ground. Thor, still itching to test his skills against Superman, decided to defend Tony by attacking Batman hoping to provoke Superman. He swung at Batman with Mjolnir. Before Superman could even react a flash of silver metal blocked Thor's hammer. Diana's sword was bending from the power and weight of Mjolnir but she stood firm.

Tony who had risen to his feet let out a wolf whistle and said, "Wow, who is the hot chick in the armor." This statement earned him another tap from Batman which laid him out flat.

Thor stared into the fiery blue eyes of the helmeted female warrior. She was incredibly powerful to resist the might of his hammer. She reminded him of his beloved Sif, and for a brief moment she looked a lot like her. Her eyes held such passion and he had only seen eyes like that once before in his long life. Sif's eyes burned with the same passionate hate when Loki had almost killed him on that long ago day. Sif had saved him from death that day he remembered the look in her eyes. They'd said without words that she would fight to the death to protect the man she loved. This woman was protecting the man she loved with all her heart.

J'onn placed a hand on Superman's shoulder stopping him from interfering with the two warriors locked in battle.

Thor's warrior pride over ruled his admiration for her for a moment. "Your blade is strong and so are you, but not strong enough to hold Mjolnir. Nothing is." Thor said as he lifted his hammer a few inches from the blade to strike again and end the battle. Before the hammer hit Diana's sword again she used the speed of Hermes spin around and soon had her blade against Thor's neck.

"Your hammer is strong, but not faster then my blade." Diana said as the blade rested against his skin. Diana was surprised by Mjolnir's weight and she could feel its magical power as well. Diana would have to tell Hephaestus about this hammer and how it bent one of his best blades. Diana almost smiled as she imagined the look on his face. Thor's eyes widened in surprise, she was a lot like his dear wife Sif and that warmed his heart. Thor relaxed his fighting stance then laughed out loud.

"You are correct my lady," Thor said as he took a step back. Diana stepped back also and smiled at him, the exhilaration from the near battle apparent in her sparkling eyes.

Hank Pym checked on Tony. "He is out cold, but will be fine." He shook his head at the juvenile antics of his teammates. Logan had just returned to the group. He was pissed about the large hole in his newly repaired costume and planned on cleaning Stark's clock. When he saw Tony laid out cold he looked at Batman's impassive face and smiled.

"If you are all finished working out your petty differences can we move on to saving the world," Captain America said sternly as he looked at Thor and the others while Superman stood behind him with the same stern expression on his face. Thor looked at Diana and saw a fellow warrior and something else. Mjolnir felt her power and magic. He felt that she was a kindred spirit and he looked forward to going into battle with her. He would have to find out more about her very soon.

"Nick Fury says there is a high concentration of Sentinels located in New York, which is why he sent us to you as he has the West Coast under control. At first he thought it was because of Spiderman's high level of success there." Captain America said. He exhaled deeply before he continued relaying the dire circumstances in New York. "But he thinks that the ones responsible for the creation and in control of the Sentinels are located there. SHEILD has an operative in New York that has informed us of this and the name of the enemy."

Remy asked the question everyone wanted to know, "Who?"

"They call themselves the Hell Fire Club," Captain America responded.

Logan jaw tightened as his eyes narrowed in anger. The X-Men had dealt with Hell Fire Club a few times in the past. They were rich and powerful mutants that liked to operate behind the scenes; manipulating events and people to their advantage. Everything started to fall into place for Logan. Those rich and power mad bastards must have sent Bolivar Trask to Bruce's universe for their technology and Trask had found the perfect evil ally in Lex Luthor. Their unholy union resulted in the artificial kryptonite and Trask must have sent the kryptonite back here to his masters. They now had the perfect weapon to take over the world.

"We need to find them and end this!" Logan growled, angry that he hadn't thought to make sure none of the technology from Bruce's world had come here.

"We all agree and we came here to offer our assistance," Captain America said.

Superman added,"We are here to help as well, but we don't know the players in this game so we will need someone from your universe to command this operation."

Logan scratched his chin and looked directly at Captain America. "Caps is the man for the job then. He is the best tactical planner we have and he knows most of the heroes in our world as well as the enemy." Everyone from Logan's universe nodded there heads in agreement.

"You sound like the perfect man for the job," Superman said with a nod of his head.

Captain America looked around at all the faces. "I will need information on everyone's powers, including all strengths and weaknesses."

Batman stepped forward and handed Captain America a P.D.A. "This is everything I have on both universes' heroes." Captain America smiled as he took the device.

"I will need a couple of hours at least to pour over this information," Captain America said as he already started looking at the files.

Batman nodded his head as he said. "We still have to unload the trailers and I will set up a tactical control center in the yellow trailer."

"Great you do that while I study this information and formulate some plans." Captain America replied as he headed away from the group to work.

Batman turned to Wolverine and said, "Since I know what's in the trailers, I'm in charge."

Logan just smirked and said, "Sounds good to me." He knew Bruce worked best when he was running things so he hollered,"You heard him, Batman's in charge so get moving and help." Everyone broke off and headed towards the trailers. Logan noticed that Northstar and Flash were still talking as they walked together to the trailers. Logan could see that Northstar was completely infatuated as Logan walked over to Bruce.

"Don't you think we should let the Flash know that Northstar is gay?" Logan asked as Bruce looked up from another P.D.A.

Batman glanced at the two speedsters and said emotionless tone, "He will find out soon enough."

Logan laughed and started walking toward the trailers as well. Batman certainly had a twisted sense of revenge. Poor Flash should rue the day he ever crossed the Batman.

Superman caught up to Batman and said, "Listen after this is done I need to talk to you."

"Fine." Batman stoically replied.

When the large group reached the first trailer Batman opened it and took out a box. He opened the box and said, "Everyone gets one of these. It's a portable communication device. Place it in your ear. All you have to do to activate it is tap it once gently and a channel will open." He watched as the devices were passed around and everyone took one.

The trailers were soon emptied of their contents. Batman with the help of Green Arrow, distributed the supplies. Things like military grade tents were set up while other things like food were taken to designated areas. Flash and Northstar raced each other to see who could set up more tents while Batman watched them with a smirk.

* * *

Batman and Superman walked further into the woods so they could speak in private. Once they were far enough so no one could overhear them, Superman spoke, "Bruce... I want you to give this to Lois if I don't return from this mission." He handed him an envelope with Lois' name neatly written on the front.

Bruce took the letter and stared at it for a few moments. "With all the kryptonite here I don't know if I will be able to survive as I will be much more vulnerable," Clark continued as he swayed from foot to foot nervously.

Bruce ripped the envelope in half, causing Clark to gasp in anger. "You're starting to sound like me Kent and that is no good. You will survive this."

"You don't know the future Bruce." Clark shot back angrily and glared at Bruce.

"You're correct, but I know you and your friends," he said unemotionally.

Clark raised an eyebrow in question and Bruce added, "None of us will allow you to be harmed by the kryptonite."

"Now you're starting to sound like me." Clark said with smile.

"Doubtful..." Bruce said coldly but then softened his voice, "I will not allow you to get hurt Kent..." Bruce paused as color rose in his exposed cheeks, "...Lois wouldn't forgive me if I allowed that."

Clark nodded his head, "And she can be the scariest woman on Earth when she is mad." Clark beamed with pride as he thought of his feisty love.

Bruce nodded his head in agreement as he remembered her slap and the rage in her eyes after she found out he was Batman. Though an angry Diana was probably equally frightening and made him grateful again for Logan's gift.

"Lets get back before they think we are having a heart to heart talk," Batman said as he turned on his heels. Clark watched his best friend of the male gender walk away. The man impressed him so much, first as a non-powered hero then as a hero who used his new gifts for the greater good. Bruce acted like he didn't care, but Clark knew he had a heart the size of Metropolis.

He hoped that one day Bruce would found someone to love like Clark loved Lois. A spark of an idea flashed in his mind. Bruce and Diana? He had seen them passionately kissing on the security video but Bruce had dismissed that a side effect of his mind being linked to Logan's. Still he must be attracted to her though they often argued at League meetings and she was all sunshine to Bruce's gloom. Clark loved that about Diana and that was why she was one of his best friends. Another thought clicked in Clark's mind. Why had Diana thrown herself so fiercely between Batman and Thor? Could she have feelings for Bruce and if she did why hadn't she told Clark, her best male friend. Clark shook his head, suddenly he had so many questions. Maybe, after this was over, he would ask Diana to go for pizza at Gino's so they could catch up as he realized that they hadn't done that in awhile.


	7. Preparing to Engage

A/N: Don't own these character's so don't sue me.

Many thanks to the talented and incredible DaisyJane for the awesome beta! And thanks also to Lady Isis for her input and for catching a big mistake. :)

Enjoy all.

**Dark Claw 2: Sentinels Hellfire Rising.**

**Chapter 7: ****Preparing to Engage****.**

Diana, never liking to remain idle for long, was helping hand out clean clothing, bathroom supplies and food to the people in the camp. She had noticed that Bruce and Kal had taken off into the woods and wondered what was up. Then she thought about how she had been neglecting her friendship with Kal lately and promised herself that once this mission was over she would make time for her friend. Hera knew he needed her guidance as she believed he should tell Lois the truth about his duel identity. He was under the mistaken impression that Lois needed to love Clark Kent first as that was who he really was. Diana thought this was wrong as he was both identities and Lois needed to know that to truly love him. Diana secretly suspected that Lois knew the truth but wasn't going to do anything until he told her himself. She was lost in these thoughts as Thor walked up to Diana and stared at her, jarring her back to reality.

Diana raised an eyebrow in question. Thor then asked, "Ye must be an Asgardian back on your world or perhaps a Valkyrie?"

Diana smirked at his assumption. Sure he knew of the Greek pantheon just as she knew of Asgard. She shook her head. "No, I'm an Amazon."

Thor looked confused for a moment then smiled in realization. "Old Greek female warriors of myth in this dimension but still real in your dimension. So the Greeks chose your world to continue their existence."

When Diana just looked at Thor with a confused expression he smiled and continued, "Thousands of years ago all the pantheons of Gods existed in all dimensions. We could not get along so instead of sinking into endless warfare each pantheon chose a different earth to inhabit. The gods that left became myths."

"I see. Well even in my dimension we were thought of as of being mythological until I showed up in Man's world." Diana said.

"Ye know that feeling," Thor said with a knowing smile. "I thought you were Asgardian because you reminded me of my wife." Thor chuckled in embarrassment. "Actually I thought you were her for a moment... the way you defended that man dressed as a bat... you must care deeply for him?"

Diana gave him an intense look and stood proudly as she declared, "Yes, I love him." Then she flushed with embarrassment. She hadn't even told Bruce that she loved him and here she was telling a near stranger.

Thor gave Diana a knowing look. "I could tell. My dear wife Sif... she has done the same for I."

Diana and Thor saw Batman and Superman exit the forest. Thor's eyes twinkled with excitement as he stared at Superman. "Did Logan tell the truth about Superman? Is he as mighty as Wolverine says."

Diana turned, saw his look and it reminded her of her home. His eyes saw a challenge that excited the large man. "Yes, Superman powers have very few limits and he is a god among men but.." Diana's smiled became large. "He doesn't fight for sport, only to save lives. Now I on the other hand.."

Thor's smile spread across his face. A real challenge to test his might against. "I wonder when this is over if you would do me the honor of a bout?" Thor asked Diana.

Diana smiled as her eyes lit up at the challenge. "I would love to. I haven't fought for sport since leaving my homeland."

Thor nodded his head as he placed a hand on Diana shoulder. "Ye that would be most acceptable, I be honored to have met you Diana of the Amazon people."

Diana placed her hand on his shoulder and smiled back. "And it's an honor to have met you Thor of Asgard."

As Bruce and Clark walked back Bruce saw the exchange between Diana and Thor. His eyes turned to slits as he watched the two smile and touch each other. Clark looked at Bruce as he heard Bruce's teeth grinding.

"Something wrong Batman?" he asked.

Bruce didn't hear a word Clark said because his heart was pounding so hard that all he could hear was the blood pumping through his ears. His attention was totally focused on two people ahead of him and the rage building within him.

Clark placed a hand on Bruce's shoulder to get his attention and Bruce turned and glared at him. Clark nearly released his hold on Bruce but managed to control the impulse to let go. "I asked what is wrong?" Clark managed to say.

Bruce just stood there staring at him for a few moments then like a switch his jaw relaxed, Clark could feel the muscles under his hand also relax. He also heard Bruce's heartbeat and breathing slow. "Nothing is wrong." Bruce said as he shook off Clark's grip. He turned and walked towards the trailers, Clark stood there watching Bruce stalked away.

_What just happened?_ Clark asked himself.

* * *

John Stewart continued to watch as Hawkgirl gawked at Angel from a distance as he walked towards a group of people. He prided himself on not being a jealous man, hell he and Hawkgirl had been getting closer but were not in a relationship. Yet. He was slowly working up the courage to ask her out but, just like now, it never seemed like an inappropriate time. He had never seen Hawkgirl act this way before.

He didn't like the way she was looking at this Angel guy. Did she miss her home so much she wanted to make time with the little creep because he had wings. Hell he could out fly this punk kid any day of the week.

Hawkgirl continued to stare at the man with the white wings. It was almost a spiritual experience for her. As a young girl on Thanagar she'd heard the religious zealots that talked, wrote and sang about a white winged one that would bring them out of their second dark age.

The first dark age was when they worshiped the demon Ichthulhu. A mystical white winged one appeared from legend one day and helped her people. He showed them the way to defeat Ichthulhu and live their own way. Before he vanished almost as suddenly as he had appeared, he wrote the great book that helped the Thanagarians create their great civilization. A civilization that is now slowly being destroyed by the war with the Gordanians, which has lasted for generations. On the last pages of the book, he wrote of a day in the future when the Thanagarian's would need his help and he would return again. _Was he the one?_ She wondered to herself and if so what did this mean for her people.

* * *

Bruce walked into the yellow trailer and started to set up the computers for the tactical control center completely in Batman mode. _Stop acting like a jealous fool and focus on the mission,___the Bat hissed inside his head. The bat took over his brain and replayed the scene and logically saw nothing to be truly jealous about. She touched Clark with far more affection and there was nothing but friendship between the two of them. Diana wasn't the type of woman to give her love lightly, in fact she had demanded that he court her before they became romantically involved. Still the primal male in him saw Thor's action as a challenge for his woman. Bruce shook his head, _his woman?_ Where did that come from? Was Logan's memories affecting his judgment again?

Bruce closed his eyes and started to take deep slow breaths. Using a relaxation practice he learned in India to clear his mind of unwanted thoughts and focus back on getting the tactical center ready. Bruce had been standing there for nearly ten minutes and had almost completely removed the unwanted desire to shove his claws deep into Thor's chest when a voice brought him back to reality.

"Hey Bats... Captain America is ready. What are you doing in here all alone?" Flash asked.

Batman turned and glared at the young man in the red costume. "Setting up the computers to make a central command center, what does it look like I'm doing?" he snapped at him.

Flash smirked. "Standing around and brooding but whatever; Caps wants to talk to you." Bruce hissed and was going to put the fear of God in Flash but he had wisely zipped away.

Bruce took one more deep breath and let it out slowly. He finally had the beast inside him locked up. Batman found Captain America standing next to Green Lantern, Captain Atom, Superman, Guardian and Hawkgirl. Batman walked up to the group and Captain America nodded his head. "Good you are all here," he said before continuing,"Batman you will be leader of a team code named Omega. Your teammates will be Wonder Woman, Wolverine and Storm." Batman nodded his head.

"The rest of you are team leaders and here is a breakdown of who is on your teams. I have tried to balance skills while creating good tactical teams. Batman your team is the smallest and will be going on a convert mission in New York City while most of us hold positions outside the city," Captain America explained. "Any Questions?"

"What will my team's objective be?" Batman asked.

"To locate, observe and if possible gain access to the Hellfire Club's Headquarters. You are to gather as much information as possible on their over plans and see if you can find any possible weaknesses in the Sentinels," Captain America replied. He looked around at the other six people to see if they had any more questions.

"Radio silence will be in effect until either we find a way to stop the Sentinels using the least amount of brute force or if you need immediate assistance. Please try communicating with J'onn first. He will be with me in the central command center." Captain America said.

"I have set up the computers and equipment in the yellow trailer. There is a cloaking mechanism that should make it virtually undetectable by the enemy," Batman stated.

"Good. You know who is on your teams so gather them and prepare to leave in one hour. Thor said he will be able to transport us just outside of New York City." Captain America said. The group broke up as they went to gather their teammates.

Green Lantern followed just behind Hawkgirl, when he was sure they were far enough away from prying ears he called out to her. Hawkgirl stopped and turned to face him.

"Watch out for that Angel character, something about him bothers me," John told her while giving her a concerned look. Angel was on Hawkgirl's team and that fact bothered John a lot. He didn't like that way Hawkgirl looked at Angel.

Hawkgirl frowned at his accusation against Angel. "From what I can tell he's one of the good guys," she growled at him.

Her reaction to his warning about Angel caused John's chest to tighten up. _Was she already in love with this guy she hardly knew?_ he wondered to himself which caused him to snap at her. "Sorry for looking out for a friend," he barked as he turned and walked away from her.

Hawkgirl felt puzzled at his reaction to Angel. She couldn't help but feel protective of him because something was telling her that he was important to her people and she was glad he was on her team for that reason. She sighed as she watched John stalk away. She cared deeply for John, more than she should given her reasons for coming to Earth, but she didn't like him making accusations about Angel. Why would he do that when he really knew almost nothing about the guy. Was he jealous? Hawkgirl exhaled deeply and thought _Men! _as she walked away to find her teammates_._

Superman walked towards Black Canary and Green Arrow. Ollie stared daggers at Gambit as he followed right behind Superman.

Superman stopped in front of the two and said with a smile. "You both are on my team."

Black Canary smiled but noticed Green Arrow's death stare at Gambit. "Is he on our team?!" Green Arrow growled as he pointed at Gambit.

Superman nodded his head _yes_ and Gambit smiled at Green Arrow then turned his attention towards Black Canary. "I hope the two of us can work together well.. very well," he said as he gave Dinah once over.

Green Arrow's fist tightened into a ball. Black Canary wrapped her arm around Green Arrow's waist and smiled at Gambit.

"I hope we all can work together as team," she told him in a coolly professional voice. Gambit smiled sweetly at Black Canary then looked right at Green Arrow and gave him a tiny smirk and wink. Dinah felt Ollie's body tense up at Gambit's continued flirting. She was done with this silly game and decided that Ollie had been punished enough for his own flirting. Seeing the smirk on Gambit's face forced her into action.

"Oh baby, I need just one of your kisses before we go," she said seductively. Ollie stared down at his pretty bird and smiled as he moved his lips towards hers.

The kiss was so erotic it made Superman blush. Gambit's smirk had vanished by the time the two came up for air.

* * *

Batman found Diana and Ororo handing out clean clothes and food to some children while Logan was going through as box of medical supplies looking for antiseptic to swab on a little boy's skinned knee. He walked up to the three and stated, "All of you are on my team."

Diana looked happy while the other two seemed a bit surprized. "We are eh?" Logan asked.

"Yes, Captain America has grouped us as a team for a covert mission," Batman said. He looked at each one of the group and added, "Since this is going to be a reconnaissance mission we are going to have to hide our identities so please follow me."

The group quickly finished what they were doing and followed Batman to the yellow trailer. Logan looked impressed at how well the central command was set up while Batman walked the built in storage unit in the back of the trailer. He pulled out a couple of large suit cases.

"I brought this in case anybody needed to go undercover." he said as he opened the cases. Logan, Diana and Ororo looked at the clothing, make-up and wigs inside the cases.

"You expect us to wear these clothes and change our appearance?" Diana asked.

"Yes, if we are to blend in we need to look like ordinary citizens," Batman said.

Diana pulled out a pair of jeans and a hoodie. They were indicative of the rest of the clothing which was a miss match of cheap and bland looking clothes.

"So where is your Matches Malone get up?" Logan asked.

"A modified version is in here. We will need to change quickly as Captain America wants to transport to New York soon." Batman said.

Diana placed a hand on her hip. "I'm not leaving my armor here."

Bruce nodded his head in agreement and opened another cabinet and pulled out some duffle bags and back packs. "Pack what you need to in these." Batman then pulled out another box. "We need to hand these out too."

Logan stepped up and looked inside the box at what appeared to be over a hundred wrist watches. "All in sync?" Logan asked.

Batman nodded his head, "Yes, and they also electronically mask meta and mutant DNA from being scanned or detected at far range."

Logan smiled proudly at Bruce. "Been a very busy Bat I see."

Flash came zipping into the trailer. "Caps wants all of us present so he can explain his plan," he said before zipping off. Bruce and Logan picked up the box and the four left to see what Captain America wanted to say.

Captain America made sure that everyone was present before he spoke. "Since we know the Hellfire Club are responsible for massing the Sentinels, they most likely have a protocol to disable them in case they go rogue like before. We will be sending a team to find and infiltrate their headquarters so that we can find a way disable the Sentinels. Others will contact Spiderman and aid him in his defense of New York while the rest will set up a perimeter. J'onn and I will run the central command. Has everyone been briefed by their team leaders." Everyone nodded there heads.

Batman then added, "Everyone going on the mission should take one of these watches. They will mask your powers from the Sentinels but only at long range. If your within thirty meters of them they might detect you." Everyone came forward and took a watch.

Captain America nodded his head. "Okay we leave in one hour. Thor should be able to transport us all there and then he will come back for the yellow trailer." Thor nodded his head as he looked at the thirty-four other heroes. It would be a drain on his powers doing the to transports but it would not effect his ability to fight.

"I want you all ready within the hour," Captain America said as everyone split up to prepare for their missions.

* * *

The man dressed in dark Victorian clothing slammed his hand hard against the table and it shattered into pieces. He looked at the man in front of him and said, "She left? Where did she go?"

The man looked a little nervous but said, "I don't know sire but she took Scott Summers with her as well."

The man's eyes flashed with anger. "That bitch!" he nearly screamed.

A woman with red hair and green eyes walked into the room. "Is everything okay?" she asked in a concerned voice.

The man's face softened when he looked at her. "Nothing to worry about, my dear. Just a small annoyance," he explained with a loving smile on his face.

The woman's mouth turned into a smile. "I'm here for you and I want you to know that I will help you any way that I can."

The man walked up to her and embraced her in a hug. He then kissed her on the lips. The man held onto her and stared into her eyes. "Thank you, I may need you to help me in the near future."

She looked at him with a serious expression. "I will do whatever is needed, even if I have to kill to protect my love," she said eerily as a flame surrounded her. The man's eyes showed a moment of fear before he smiled lovingly at her.

"Not now my love..." he swallowed his fear down as she slowly returned to normal. "All in good time." He raised her hand to his lips and kissed it before leading her out of the room.


	8. New York

A/N: Don't own these character's so don't sue me.

Many thanks to the talented and incredible DaisyJane for the awesome beta, this story would not be a tenth as good without her edits! And thanks also to Lady Isis for her input and her stories. The woman is an amazing talent. D.C. Should hire her to write all there stories. Well maybe just Batman and Wonder Woman adventures. ;)

Enjoy all.

**Dark Claw 2: Sentinels Hellfire Rising.**

**Chapter 8: New York.**

Bruce pulled up the collar of his shabby trench coat then he stuck one of his hands into his jacket pocket. He had just purchased a bottle of alcohol from a rough looking man with a couple of cans of stew. The man had also given him an address on Park Avenue that he claimed was were one of the Hellfire Club members lived. Food was more precious than gold at the moment and Bruce had used their surplus to gain information. He carefully kept an eye out as he walked the near people-less streets, fingering the explosive batarang in his pocket. In the distance he could see the large Sentinels patrolling the city. Central Park was their base of operations as hundreds of them stood erect waiting to defend the city for their masters.

Bruce had been talking for the last two days to various people who were trying to survive in the heavily occupied city, trying to get more information on the Hellfire Club. When the Sentinels first appeared in New York hundreds of thousands of people marched in the streets to protest against the massive robots in their city. The public had still believed that the Sentinels were under governmental control and that the government of the people would allow them to peacefully protest. They found out the hard way that this was not the case.

Nearly a million New Yorkers lost their lives that day when the Sentinels commanded the people to return to there homes. When the people didn't listen and continued their protest, the huge robots simply turned their offensive weapons on them. The citizens now call it Massacre Monday. The streets were now run by thugs and the Hellfire militia. Only those people loyal to the thugs or militia got food and many were starving as their "benefactors" were not generous.

Logan had found them a shabby hotel to stay in. The old man who owned it was a Vietnam war vet named Jimmy. Bruce could tell he was a good man despite his gruff exterior as he allowed virtual strangers to stay in exchange for some food and supplies. The single room had two bed large beds. It wasn't much and the building was old but was clean and fairly well maintained.

Bruce slipped in the front door and saw Jimmy who nodded his head before returning his hand gun to it's hiding spot under the large counter. Bruce returned the nod as he walked to the stairs and walked up nine flights to the top floor. The elevator didn't work so most of the tenants preferred the lower floors. It was perfect for the heroes as they had easy access to the roof and they could slip out at night without anyone seeing them. Bruce walked to room 922 and looked around before he pulled out his key and entered the room.

He saw Ororo standing in front of one of the beds with her back to him. She was wearing the short black wig that hid her white hair and helped her to blend in. She must have just returned from doing reconnaissance with Diana and Logan. Bruce froze when he saw her wrapping a bandage around Diana's shoulder. The red dot in the middle told him she had been shot.

He quickly closed the door and gruffly asked,"What happened?" He didn't like the cold feeling in his stomach at seeing Diana hurt.

Diana gave him a reassuring smile, "It is nothing and I will be fine so stop worrying. In a couple of hours there won't even be a mark. I may not heal as fast as you but I still heal quickly."

"What happened," Bruce repeated in a softer tone to Diana. "You were just supposed to be getting intel on Spiderman."

"We got in contract with a man that is said to work with Spiderman but a militia patrol showed up and started shooting at us. There was a little girl in the alley and in rescuing her I got clipped in the shoulder. But the girl is all right and that is all that matters and I gave her mother a firm talking to about keeping a careful eye on her child." Diana told him.

Ororo laughed and said, "More like put the fear of the gods in her." Color rose in Diana's cheeks at her statement.

Bruce's eyes flashed with anger. He was not amused. "Were you followed?" he asked as he examined her wound.

Ororo shook her head,"No, the patrol was small and Logan and I were able to take them out. A group of citizens quickly stripped them of their weapons and sent them on their way."

Diana stood up from her seated position on the bed. "You can stop worrying Bruce. We were able to get a message to Spiderman and we were careful getting back here." Diana was forced to gave him a glare to stop him from fretting over her like a mother hen. Bruce sighed and turned away as Diana grabbed a fresh t-shirt from her duffel bag and put it on.

"Did you find out anything?" Diana asked changing the subject and hopefully getting Bruce to focus on something besides her wounded shoulder.

Bruce walked over to the window and looked outside. "I think I have a lead on a member of the Hellfire Club." He pulled out a piece of paper. "One of them is supposedly living at this address. I will go tonight and see if the it has any merit."

"We are coming as well. You will need back-up," Diana said with her good arm on her hip.

Bruce turned away from the window and looked at her. "NO!" he growled giving her a glare.

Diana's eyes turned to tiny slits of anger. "Why because I got shot. I will be completely healed before we go and there is no way you are going alone."

Logan entered the room and rolled his eyes as he closed the door. "Are you two fighting again. You're starting to sound like an old married couple." He placed a bucket of ice on the dresser. Bruce shot Logan a dirty look as Diana raised an eyebrow in amusement.

Bruce turned his glare on Logan. "You let Diana get shot!" Diana and Ororo both rolled their eyes. Bruce and Logan had been on each other's nerves for two days now. That is why they had gone on separate missions today.

"Listen bub, I did my best but the militia patrol came from nowhere." Logan got into Bruce's face.

Diana stepped in between the two sick off their behavior. "Both of you relax and stop looking for reasons to fight. I am tired of the constant arguing from you both and I am sure Ororo is too." Diana glared at both Logan and Bruce. "So stop acting like spoiled little boys." Diana said in her best princess royal commanding voice. Both Bruce and Logan looked at Diana in shock and a little fear. Ororo had to turn away to keep from laughing at the expressions on Bruce and Logan faces. For someone so nice, Diana could be completely scary when provoked.

Bruce and Logan had been bitching and moaning at each other since just after Thor teleported everyone outside of New York City. During the hike into town they would throw little jabs at each other or argue about the best way to gather information. She was glad Diana had said something because she was ready to fry both their asses for being such jackasses.

"If I have to get in between you both again..." Diana said narrowing her eyes and leaving her threat unspoken. Both knew what Diana could do to them if she got angry. She had the power to really hurt them.

Logan turned and huffed as he went into the bathroom and slammed the door shut. Bruce was about to walk out of the room when Diana gripped his shoulder. Her blue eyes stared into his, imploring him to settle down and behave.

Bruce didn't like being treated like a child even if he was acting like one. His eyes slowly turned to slits as he opened his mouth to tell her what he thought of her mothering when Diana expression softened. He shut up and she gave him a small smile and kissed him on the cheek.

"Bruce..." she said softly. "Stop antagonizing Logan. We need to work as a team and you two can't be fighting all the time. You can't intimidate him like the Flash. You know he respects you so show him the same courtesy."

Bruce disliked when she called him out on his behavior even if she was totally correct. He especially hated it when she did it in front of others, but given their lack of space she had no other choice.

Logan came out of the bathroom and grabbed his jacket. He was still in a foul mood.

"Where are you going?" Ororo asked out of concern. She knew that Logan was prone to disappearing when angry but now wasn't the time for him to run away.

"I'm just going downstairs to talk to Jimmy," Logan growled as he bent down and retrieved a bottle of rum from one of the bags then slammed out of the room.

Diana gave Bruce a harsh stare, causing him to feel bad about how he treated Logan. Bruce went to grab his jacket but Ororo stopped him.

"Don't, Logan needs sometime to cool off," Ororo stated.

* * *

Logan entered the lobby and Jimmy smiled at seeing him. He returned the smile as he placed the bottle of rum onto the counter. "Got any glasses back there Jimmy?" Logan inquired with a smirk.

Jimmy's eyes lit up at the sight of the bottle of rum. "Sure do." He said as he opened up the side compartment to allow Logan access behind the four foot tall counter.

Logan sat on the chair next to Jimmy's as Jimmy pulled out two clean glasses and set them down on the lower counter space under the main counter. Logan pulled out two cigars from his shirt pocket. Bruce the bastard had been kind enough to bring him a box with all the supplies. Logan nearly growled as he thought of Bruce, the smirking, know it all prick. _No wonder Scooter wanted to kill me when the two of us were linked, _he thought remembering Scott's irritation.

"Would you like one?" Logan asked offering him a cigar.

"No thanks, Tom. You looked pretty pissed off. Is it your lady friend?" Jimmy asked as Logan poured the rum in each glass.

Bruce, fearing someone would recognize Logan or Ororo's names, had given them aliases. Logan's was Thomas Wayne and they were posing as brothers. Logan had even allowed Bruce to cut his hair and trim his sideburns disguise his looks. Ororo's was Donna Troy. Diana had given it to her.

"No." Logan said softly as he thought of the beautiful Ororo and he took a large drink from his glass. Alcohol was one of the few substances that could effect Logan's mind and physiology albeit temporarily but getting drunk was something he needed at the moment.

"Ah then it's your so called brother," Jimmy said and Logan gave him a hard stare causing Jimmy to chuckle. Logan puffed on his cigar while Jimmy took a sip from his glass. "You're both build about the same but look different."

Logan only grunted and muttered, "I take after our mother," as he took another mouthful from his glass. He drained the glass and poured more. Jimmy chuckled again and sipped his drink.

An hour later the rum was pretty much gone as Logan had drunk most of it and it was giving him the effect he wanted. It had numbed him and made him mellow. He didn't care anymore about Bruce and his prick-like attitude.

Jimmy wasn't drunk but had a nice buzz going. "You know that I was in Nam," Jimmy stated.

Logan had guessed as much. The man was in his late fifties, he still wore his dog tags and he walked with a noticeable limp. "Is that when you got injured?" Logan asked as he stared into his nearly empty glass and puffed on his second cigar.

Jimmy nodded as he swirled the small amount of rum in his glass. "Yes," Jimmy sighed then stared hard at Logan for a few minutes as if trying to determine something. "I was on a mission with my platoon and we were joined by two special-forces operatives." Jimmy said as he continued to stare at Logan. "We were ambushed and one of the special ops guys tackled me to the ground as a member of the Cong had thrown a grenade and it went off near us... The man took most of the blast. A large chunk of shrapnel got me in the leg. I was sure that he was dead."

Logan nodded his head, he had been in enough wars and had a few very close calls like that. If not for his rapid healing powers he would have died a long time ago.

"But he rolled off me and... I don't know if it was shock from the pain in my leg but I watched as the man's injuries healed almost instantaneously. Then he carried me out of that damn jungle saving my life," Jimmy said his stark stare seeming to burn into Logan.

"He was a small but muscular man and I remember his face still to this day...you look just like him but your taller. And he smoked the same stinky cigars as you," Jimmy finished saying as Logan stopped looking at his glass and stared back at the man. He had gotten most of his memories back but some were clearer that others. He felt a prickly sensation in his head as he remembered flashes of the incident.

Jimmy's nodded his head as if recognizing Logan. "You have to be him but some how your taller and it looks like you haven't aged a day," Logan opened his mouth to protest but Jimmy waved his hand.

"There is no need to lie, I figure you're probably some kind of mutant but that don't matter to me. You saved my life and that is why I allowed you the room for next to nothing. Jimmy Vale always repays his debts and you can count on me to watch out for you and your friends," he said with a gentle smile and leaned close to whisper, "I know you are here to get rid of those god damn Sentinels and I hope you succeed. You need anything just ask."

Logan was shocked and didn't know how to respond. Before he could think of anything to say, Ororo entered the lobby. Jimmy smiled at Ororo. "Evening Donna, care for a drink?"

"No," she said politely while shaking her head as she stepped up to the counter. "I'm here to retrieve Thomas. I'm sure he is nice and drunk by now and in need of an escort."

Jimmy smiled as he stood up. "Well Tom, better not keep this fine lady waiting." He gave Logan a wink.

Logan downed the last of his drink and stood up. In less that an hour the effects of the almost whole bottle of rum would be gone as his immune system would take care of it.

He staggered out from behind the counter and looked at Ororo. She looked different but just as beautiful as always. He was still getting used to seeing her with the short dark hair and amber contacts that hid her ice blue eye color. He leaned on her as she lead him back to the room. He inhaled deeply enjoying her scent. She smelled earthy but in a good way like the forest after it rains. She always smelled clean with woody undertones to her scent and it really turned Logan on. Being drunk it was all he could do not to pull her into his arms and kiss her until they were both screaming for more.

Jimmy smirked as he took another sip from his glass as he watched the couple walk away. He felt at peace finally, he had finally gotten his chance to repay the debt he owed to "Tom." He just hoped that he and his friends could stop the Sentinels.

"Bruce is sorry for attacking you earlier. You know that he was just worried about Diana," Ororo said as she lead Logan back up to their room.

Logan gave a bitter laugh before replying, "Bruce is never sorry and he enjoys acting like a smug prick who is always right. No wonder you couldn't stand me when our minds were linked."

Ororo let out a small laugh and said, "There were times I wanted to fry your ass with a lightening bolt but you weren't that bad and I think Scott needs somebody to knock him off his high horse every once and a while. Besides I like Bruce as long as Diana's around to keep him in line. She set him straight about her getting shot and he does feel bad about taking his worry over her out on you."

"Yeah he does act rather stupid when it comes to her," Logan slurred before stumbling causing Ororo to grab him by the arm. Once he was steady, she wrapped his arm around her shoulder and placed her arm around his waist. Logan felt desire shoot through him again. The past few months he had been relying on her a lot. He admired her internal strength and he fed off her strength when he felt weak. He cared more about her than he would ever admit it to her as he would barely admit it to himself. He enjoyed the feel of her body against his and he wanted to act upon his desires but he knew he was drunk and she deserved more than drunken groping.

Ororo helped Logan stumble back into the room as both Bruce and Diana looked at them. Bruce quickly moved to Logan's side and helped Ororo with Logan.

"Oh look it's the prick.." Logan slurred causing Bruce to glare for moment.

"I know I was a bit of a jerk but..." Bruce began but was interrupted by Logan.

"Don't be getting soft on us now Wayne. We wouldn't want Batman losing his big bad reputation." Logan slurred some more. Bruce ground his teeth as he kept himself from saying something rude and helped Logan into the bed. Once Logan's head hit the pillow he passed out and Ororo removed his boots.

"He can get drunk?" Bruce asked.

Ororo laid a single sheet over the sleeping Logan. "Yes he can if he drinks a lot in a short amount of time. It seems to be the only substance that actually affects Logan's physiology for a short time but he will wake up in less than an hour no worse for wear." Ororo said as she touched his face with her hand as he slept.

"I guess alcohol will affect you the same way." Diana said as she stood next to Bruce as she watched Ororo touch Logan with gentle affection.

"I don't drink so it doesn't matter." Bruce stated as he turned away from Logan and went over to his back pack. He removed a small lap top and turned it on then tried to connect to the command center computers to read any updates from J'onn and Captain America and to update them as well. He was soon lost in his work.

Ororo finally finished making sure Logan was comfortable turned and looked at Diana. "Seems we have some time to kill. How about a game of gin?" she asked as she removed a deck of cards from her back pack. Diana smiled and nodded her head.

* * *

The Black King sat at his over-sized desk looking over reports coming from the Southwestern region of the United States. He frowned at what he was reading. The Hulk was now moving northeast and at the pace he was moving would arrive in New York within the next few days. He had sent a several squads of Sentinels to stop him but all were destroyed by the green menace.

He would have to figure something out before the Hulk showed up at his door and ruined all his plans. _Why was he heading in this direction?_ he wondered. It was as if something or someone was directing him here. He also thought of the White Queen and he wondered where she'd gone with Scott Summers? He'd known that his plan had had risks when he started but now all his pawns were starting to fall.

The Black King also had another puzzle to occupy his attention. He kept getting reports of Sentinels disconnecting then reconnecting to the network randomly for an hour at a time. His technicians had told him it was nothing to worry about as the network was processing thousands of terra-bytes of information a second and there would be naturally lags or disconnections on a network this size.

His beautiful Black Queen was the only true power he had left. He was glad the drugs still had a hold on her. Without her at his side he knew the White King would've made a move against him by now.

Thinking of him, the Black King tried to guess why the White King wanted Charles Xavier? Sure Charles was a very powerful telepath, but in his current conduction he was almost useless. When he'd allied himself with the White King, he knew there eventually would be trouble. The man was a powerful mutant and more than semi-intelligent. Now he was starting to regret the alliance, he should just destroyed him right at the beginning while he'd had the chance.

He closed his eyes in thought. He had rapidly moved up in the Hellfire Club to his current position by planning wisely and taking risks when necessary. Risk was his way of life. He risked it all every single time he did something but the gains had always out weighed the consequences. This time was no different. He opened his eyes and smiled, these situations were what made him happy. Life without risk was not life worth living in his opinion and he would win like he'd always done in the past. Soon the world would be his. Sure there were a few small pockets of resistance but he would flush them out soon and crush them all.

A blip on the computer screen in front of him caused him to scowl. Ten Sentinels had again disappeared from the network. He would have to increase the damn network's capacity soon so that glitches like this would stop happening.

A knock on the door forced him away from the computer screen. "Come in," he commanded.

A red haired, green eyed beauty walked into the room. "My King, the festival is almost ready." She smiled at him and he smiled back at his Black Queen.

"Great, tonight we celebrate our victory over his world and tomorrow we plan our expansion into many other worlds," he said as he stood up and walked over to her and the two embraced.

* * *

Less than forty minutes later Logan started moan and groan in his sleep. Thirty seconds later he shot up in bed covered in sweat and breathing heavily as his face twisted in pain. Bruce knew that look well, it was the same look he had every time he awakened from the nightmares.

He walked over to Logan placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Everything is okay Logan," Bruce said in a calming voice. "So was it one of yours or one of mine?"

Logan stared up at him and replied, "Mine," as he shuddered before shaking off the affects of the dream. He shrugged off Bruce's hand and removed the sheet that covered him. He'd just gotten out of the bed when a voice from the window spoke.

"It's about time you got off your ass to help around here, Logan."

Logan narrowed his eyes at the wise-cracking costumed man. "And where have you been hiding Parker?"


	9. Friendly neighborhood Spiderman

A/N: Don't own these character's so don't sue me.

Many thanks to the talented and incredible DaisyJane for the awesome beta, this story would not be a tenth as good without her edits! She truly is a Wonder Woman. Juggling so many things and still manages to help this poor slob out with my story. Thanks DaisyJane, you are simply the best!

And thanks also to Lady Isis for her input and her many enjoyable stories. The woman is an amazing talent. If I owned a publishing company she would be the first person I would sign, then DaisyJane. :)

Sorry about the delays, but this story has so many character's that I'm having a hard time keeping track of them all. There is like 40+ heroes alone without the bad guys. So if one of your favorites disappears please don't complain to much, I've got over two pages of just names alone for who is in the story and what I want or need from them in the story.

Enjoy all.

**Dark Claw 2: Sentinels Hellfire Rising.**

**Chapter 9: Friendly neighborhood Spiderman.**

Bruce, Diana and Ororo turned toward the window and saw a figure hanging upside down outside it. The light allowed them to see the red and blue web patterned costume with over sized white lenses in the mask.

Spiderman flipped into the room from the window and landed on his feet. Bruce had memories of Logan and Peter teaming up in the past but seeing his acrobatic abilities in person was amazing and he thought even Dick would envy of them.

"Hey Logan, it's Spiderman when I'm in costume," the young man chastised him. Bruce also observed that he was close to Dick in height but slightly thinner.

Logan just rolled his eyes as he headed towards the bathroom."It's the end of the world, Petey, and you're among friends. Aliases aren't needed." He walked into the bathroom and closed the door.

Spiderman shook his head and sighed. "This isn't the first time we've faced the end of the world, Wolverine! And we used our costume names then," he yelled through the door then turned to Ororo and asked, "Hey Storm, is grumpy taller?" His confusion clear in his tone.

Ororo smiled at him and nodded her head before speaking in a calm dulcet voice, "Hello Spiderman and yes he is taller but that is a long story and I don't think we have time for it now."

Spiderman nodded his head as he turned and looked at Bruce and Diana."Hello, I don't think I've met either of you," he smiled at Diana before continuing, " And I definitely wouldn't have forgotten somebody who looks like you."

Diana returned his smile and extended her hand. "Hello, I am Diana,"she said as the two shook hands. "His name is Bruce..." she said indicating Bruce who was standing stone faced behind her. "But like his "brother" Logan is a bit of a grumpy as well...Ororo and I are still debating which one is more so." She gave Bruce a brilliant smile as he glared at her. Ororo choked down her laughter at Bruce's expression.

"Bruce, you just proving my point by looking at me like that," Diana added with a smirk before kissing him on the cheek.

His eyes softened after her kiss and he turned to Spiderman and asked in his Batman voice, "What kind of intel do you have for us?"

Logan who had just exited the bathroom added,"Yeah Petey, you've been here the longest... who is in control of this city? King Pin?"

Peter sighed and thought, _so much for pleasantries._ "No, King Pin has been MIA since the start of this and none of his regular thugs know where he is."

Logan nodded his head and thought, _King Pin is a very intelligent guy. The first sign of trouble he would go into hiding like the cockroach he is._

"What about this Hellfire Club then? Know any members?" Logan asked as he found a cigar and lit it. Bruce, Diana and Ororo glared at Logan for lighting up a smelly cigar in their rather small shared room. Bruce stalked to the other windows in the room and opened them. Logan let out an irritated growl but he snuffed out the freshly lit cigar. "Jeez, they help me to think."

"We have been tracking a few, but it's hard to get at them. I've interrogated several high ranking militia members but they don't know anything," Spiderman said quickly before Bruce and Logan started arguing about his cigars.

"I have obtained this address located on Park Avenue that I will be checking out later tonight," Bruce said as he held out the piece of paper to Spiderman.

Spiderman took it and looked at it. The address meant nothing to him. "Could be a possibility, but Park Avenue is very close to Central Park which is the Sentinels main headquarters. Basically your going to be deep in enemy territory."

"Which means that it is more than likely a good address. The leaders would want their headquarters located it the most protected part of the city," Bruce stated.

Logan's eyes lit up for a moment. "How is it possible that you haven't been caught by those Sentinels? You've been swinging around the city for months." he asked.

Spiderman tapped on a red colored belt that blended with his costume."Doc Oct created it to jam their sensors."

"Wow working with one of your worst enemies, that's so messed up," Logan said in surprise.

Spiderman nodded his head. "Yeah, war tends to make for strange bedfellows. You know the saying the enemy of my enemy is my friend. I'm sure if we survive this he'll go back to wanting to kill me."

Bruce thought about working with the Joker and shuttered at the thought, though he could see maybe working with Victor Fries.

"Where you been hiding out at?" Logan asked him.

"We have a few places around the city, but mostly in the sewers." Spiderman sighed as his shoulders slumped. He was weary after months of hiding and leading guerrilla missions. Logan walked up to the young man and placed a kind hand on his shoulder.

"Listen up bub, there are worst places then the sewers... hell Brucie here lives half of his life in a cave full of bat shit when he has a beautiful mansion to live in so go figure." Logan said as he smirked at Bruce. Bruce's eyes turned to slits as he glared at Logan and took a deep breath before administering his own verbal abuse but Ororo wisely stepped in. She was sick of the constant bickering and they had more important things to worry about.

"That's enough, Logan," she said in the quiet but hard voice of the schoolteacher chastising the errant student. Logan's smirk vanished off his face and he got that queasy feeling you get in your stomach when you're called into the principle's office as he looked into the hard eyes of Ororo.

"Sorry darlin', anyways..." Logan said again focusing on the mission as he turned his attention back to Spiderman. "We've brought reinforcements so it should get better soon."

"That's great but we mostly need medical supplies, food, clean water and well anything clean actually," Spiderman requested.

"I think we can arrange to have Dr. Fate teleport the supplies, we just need a drop off point," Bruce said to him.

"Oh thank God." Spiderman sighed as if a heavy weight had just been lifted from him. Diana pulled out a chair for Peter to rest on and handed him a bottle of water. He removed his mask to drink it and she smiled into his warm brown eyes. The others seated themselves and they discussed the supplies Spiderman needed and talked more about what had been happening in New York.

* * *

Flash walked over towards Green Lantern. His pal had been quiet for the past two days; normally he wasn't the brooding type. Now he was almost making Batman seem chatty with his current silent attitude.

"Hey buddy, what's up?" Flash asked him as he ate an apple.

John blinked as he refocused his attention on Flash. "I just have a problem on my mind that's all."

"I see. Does it concern a certain winged female we both know and love?" Flash said with a grin.

"How.. what... no..no...not at all," John stuttered.

Flash's smile turned into a smirk. "You don't need to be all broody about her; she will be fine GL, hell she is one of the toughest chicks I've met."

Green Lantern nodded his head agreeing that she was that but his thoughts went to a certain other winged person in her group. His eyes flashed a brighter green and Flash noticed the jealous expression that crossed John's face.

"Oh it's not Hawkgirl you're worried about but that Angel fella, huh," Flash concluded. He felt John's pain; hell he hated it when a gal he liked was into someone else. "Don't worry about him, look at you, you're one fine looking man. Angel's got nothing on you." Flash said with a finger point.

Green Lantern's eyebrow raised at Flash's antics and he shook his head as he couldn't help but smile. "Thanks Flash," he said as he realized that his friend sure knew how to cheer him up, at least for the moment. _Waiting is part of being a hero and a good soldier, _John thought. He was used to it and normally it didn't bother him, but now what he wanted was for all this to be over and done with so he could see her again.

* * *

Hawkgirl was absently rolling her mace in her hands. She was thinking about John and how he acted before she left. A gentle hand on her shoulder brought her back to reality. She turned her head and saw Angel's face smile back at her.

"Something bothering you?" he asked her.

Hawkgirl sighed as she dropped her mace down and hung it at her waist."Yeah, but its personal," she replied defensively not wanting to get into it.

Angel nodded his head and sighed, "Yes personal problems are the worst. I think sometimes that it is easier saving the world than to deal with your own problems." He thought of his father and their strained relationship.

Hawkgirl gave him a sad stare and for a moment they silently shared their pain. Then Angel spoke in a tone of quiet resignation, "Best solution to personal problems is not to dwell on them... May I ask a question of you on a completely different topic?"

Hawkgirl nodded her head happy to talk about something other than her personal life.

"Why do you wear that helmet all the time? Normally when someone is in a costume for a long period of time they feel the need to remove their mask as it gets uncomfortable," he inquired.

Hawkgirl nodded her head, lucky for her her helmet was a made of a special breathable material. "All my people wear their helmets all the time except when they go to bed so I am used to it," she responded.

Angel's brow raised in question. "Are your people into torture?"

Hawkgirl shook her head no."It's part of our culture. The great one said we had to cover our faces to hide from the evil one. I guess it's a hold over from our dark age."

"Yes it sounds rather barbaric to me. You would think your people would have moved passed such a custom. I'm sorry if that sounds critical because I mean no harm." he said when after he spoke his mind.

Hawkgirl smiled as she shook her head no. "No worries as I kind of agree with you but tradition is tradition." She sighed as she looked at Angel and wondered, _could he be the one to save our people __from this endless warfare and allow us to be a great culture again_. _They had for thousands of years worn their masks. Maybe it is time to take them off and show the universe what their proud people looked like._ Hawkgirl frowned at the thought. She doubted that it would ever happen in her lifetime.

* * *

Green Arrow stood in the shadows watching Gambit. He had vanished a few hours ago from the abandoned house they were using as shelter while awaiting orders from central command. He saw Gambit slinking down the street and his eyes narrowed it suspicion.

When Gambit was close enough Green Arrow stepped from behind the bushes he'd used to hide his presence. "Where have you been for the past few hours?" Arrow asked in a cold voice.

Gambit was startled by the sudden appearance of Green Arrow but quickly regained his composure. "You scare Remy hiding der," he said with a charming smile.

Green Arrow was not amused and repeated his question, "Where have you been?"

"Tis my business," he said as he turned back and continued on his way to the house. Green Arrow stepped in front of him stopping him from continuing.

"It is not your business when we are supposed to be keeping a low profile and you go off to who knows where," Ollie said harshly.

Gambit frowned at Green Arrow's accusing tone."Remy understand you not like moi and you not de only one, homme. But Remy not like you making insinuations. I needed a smoke and de Big Blue One give Remy de stink eye when he light up. Once outside, Remy realize he hate being couped up, see I's born and raised in de outdoors."

Ollie's suspicion went down a few notches though he still didn't trust the Cajun. "Guess it does get a little cramped in there."

"Well at least we be surrounded by gorgeous women. Your girlfriend is tres belle, non," Gambit said with a half smile. Green Arrow glared at him causing Gambit to throw his hands up in the air defensively. "Greeny get no worries from Remy. My heart belong to ma chere, Anna Marie. I love her like crazy but we no touch because of her mutation. Sometimes dis cause the eye to wander as Remy loves women. But I know Pretty Bird is yours, still Remy like to look."

"I sorry to hear that about you and Rouge. I would go crazy if I couldn't be with Canary," Ollie said sincerely.

"Not a day go by dat Remy don't pray to de Lord that Anna Marie gets control of her skin and I can show her wit more than sweet words how much I love ma chere," Gambit said and warned Ollie, "You should appreciate what you got, homme. Treat her right or some smooth talkin' homme might take her away, non."

Green Arrow smirked as he nodded his head in agreement, one womanizer to another.

* * *

A rough looking man walked towards another man dressed in all white. He stopped and set a couple of cans on the table and smiled at the man in white.

"How did the mission go?" the man in all white inquired. The rough man's smile spread wider, but then the man started to morph into a blue skinned yellowed eyed woman.

"Just as you said it would and I have to say he is very attractive." she purred and licked her red lips.

The man in white smiled as he turned from the woman."Good job, now our dear Black King will have an unexpected visitor or two very soon." He started to walk away and the woman stepped in line with him as he walked.

"Are you ready yet to take control of the Sentinels?" she asked him.

He frowned at the question. "Not yet, Charles is becoming hard to control with the serum. Once all the implants are in though, his control will be gone."

"Why are you being so cautious with him?" she asked.

He stopped and turned to the blue skinned female. "Because he is my friend..." he said sincerely before his mouth turned into an evil smile. "Besides the process is a delicate procedure, if we rush it we will have to find another telepath. Charles is one of the most powerful and we need that power for the operation. Replacing him would be nearly impossible, especially since the Black King has the other one." he said.

The woman nodded her head in agreement as they continued to walk.

* * *

Scott Summers awoke in a strange bed and he looked around the room. It was luxurious and the bed he was lying on was one of the largest he'd ever seen. A woman dressed in provocative white clothing and with flowing blond hair entered the room carrying a tray of food.

"Good your awake," she said in a crisp British accent.

Scott shook his head in confusion. Where was he and what was he doing here."Who are you?" he asked her and she smiled sweetly at him.

"A friend who saved your life," she replied as she placed the tray down on a table next to the large bed. She seated herself next to the him then leaned forward, revealing her lush cleavage in her skimpy white top. She was very attractive he acknowledged as he stared at her trying to figure out if he knew her. His mind was a mess. It was like he was drunk and could not think straight, but one thought continued to repeat itself in his mind.

"Jean! Where is Jean?" he said franticly. The blond woman grimaced and her eyes flashed with anger for a moment before she again smiled and gave him a loving look.

"She is well, don't you worry about her," she said as she touched her finger to his forehead. "Sleep my love." Scott's eyes suddenly got heavy and within moments he was fast a sleep. The woman cursed as she rose from the bed.

_Damn why aren't my mind blocks working on him!_ She hissed to herself. She had taken him away from the Hellfire Club to save his life. The Black King had been planning to have him executed since the drugs continued to have their hold on his new Black Queen.

Her telepathic powers where second to none as she had honed them for most of her life, but this simple man continued to halt her control over him. At first she was ordered by the Black King to wipe his mind, but when she could not it did something to her. She had never met anyone that she could not control. Sure there were ones that could fight against it but never one that she couldn't eventually overpower.

Now she was in love this man, the only man she could not control with her mind. She was not worried about the Hellfire Club coming after her. Anyone they sent she could erase or change their mind that is as long as it wasn't the Black or White King. They both had crowns that blocked her powers. She sat down on a chair next to the bed and looked down at Scott's sleeping form. She felt a rush of desire as she looked at him. She would do anything to have him and she was going to find a way to make him love her.


	10. Shattered

A/N: Don't own these character's so don't sue me.

Many thanks to the talented and incredible DaisyJane for the awesome beta, I've said it many times before, but she is simple the best. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I cannot believe Christmas is only 23 days henceforth. I had better start shopping soon! I hope everyone else has a great Christmas.

**Shameless plug** http:// bmww. xcave. net/ (remove the spaces) is a site for us Batman/Wonder Woman shippers. Check it out if you enjoy such stories. :)

Enjoy all.

**Dark Claw 2: Sentinels Hellfire Rising.**

**Chapter 10: Shattered.**

Bruce rose from his seated position on the bed while the rest were still occupied talking to Spiderman about how his group and he had held out for so long. Bruce picked up a duffel bag and went into the bathroom. Less then two minutes later he came out in his batsuit.

Spiderman was so startled by his change in appearance that he nearly jumped from his chair and crawled up the wall. The rest just looked at Bruce in question. Diana's eyes narrowed angrily.

"I'm going to check on that address," he said stoically.

Diana hopped up from her seated position on the bed. "Not without us," she said with her hands on her hips.

"Of course Diana, I would've disappeared while all of you were discussing the finer points of living in the sewers if I didn't want you to come along. I may need backup so get dressed. We don't have all night." he said.

Diana took a few steps closer to him and ran her hand along his exposed jaw. "Only if you ask nicely." she said in a sweet voice.

Bruce sighed in exasperation and grabbed another duffel bag and tossed it to Logan, "Suit up."

"No way bub, I'm not getting in the middle of you two. I value my balls," Logan replied with a smirk as Peter let out a snicker.

"Settle down Bruce I was just kidding. You know humor can help ease a tense situation," Diana said with disappointment in her voice.

As quietly and as nicely as he could manage Bruce said, "Please get dressed Princess."

Diana's radiant smile returned. "Of course Bruce now that wasn't so hard was it. Come on Ororo," she said as she grabbed another duffel bag and the two women disappeared into the bathroom. Diana had brought her costume that she used to patrol Gotham with Bruce as she figured it was stealthier than her usual armor. Batman turned to Logan.

"I brought spear suits for myself and Diana just in case and since your both about our sizes and you don't want to wear your normal uniforms..." Bruce said.

"Yeah, I get it. How Superman earned the title of boyscout with you around," Logan chuckled as Bruce glared. Logan opened his duffel bag and felt the fabric and turned and looked at Bruce.

"This doesn't feel like your normal suits," Logan questioned.

Bruce nodded his head. "I was able to extract a tooth from my mouth and Wayne Tech synthesized the adamantium in it. It's woven into the fabric. Stronger and lighter then the normal material I use in the suits. We don't really need the protection but it makes me feel better that Diana and the rest are better protected."

Diana came out of the bathroom sans mask with Ororo dressed the same. Bruce felt the same rush of excitement he'd felt when he'd seen her the first time in the suit. While not showing as much skin as her usual armor, the suit hugged her body like a second skin and she looked incredibly sexy. Bruce had to admit that Ororo looked incredible as well.

"Wow..." was all Spiderman could say while Logan couldn't speak at all. While he was used to seeing Ororo in a form fitting outfit, the black suit was something else. Man, she was sexy as hell.

Diana put on her mask that covered her face but left her hair free and helped Ororo with the full cowl she would wear to cover her bright white hair that would stand out in the dark.

"What do you think of the costume?" Ororo said as she adjusted the cowl covering her face.

"It looks like it fits about right and the cowl covers your hair so you will not stand out in the darkness," Bruce said then looked over at the unblinking eyes of Logan and smirked. "What do you think Logan?"

Logan's mouth opened up a few times and he had to clear his throat before he could roughly choke out, "You look great, darlin'." Logan saw the knowing smirk on Bruce's face and shot Bruce a dirty look as he grabbed his suit and walked towards the bathroom silently. He missed the slight rise of color in Ororo's exposed cheeks.

Bruce enjoyed his amusement at Logan's expense for another moment before he turned to Spiderman and asked in complete Batman mode,"Are you coming with us?"

Spiderman was still a little stunned at the sexiness of his female companions' costumes but he shook his mind clear and answered, "Sure, I know the safest route to get to that address."

"Great, as soon as Logan is ready you lead the way," Batman agreed.

* * *

Ollie and Dinah where sitting on an old picnic table outside the abandoned house. Dinah was leaning against Ollie's shoulder as they looked up at the night sky. The constellations where the same here as in their universe. The could almost believe they were home.

"How are you holding up my pretty bird?" Ollie asked her as he inhaled her recently shampooed hair.

"Fine, now that we are outside under the stars. Hiding in that old stinky house isn't what I expected when I joined the League," she sighed.

Ollie nodded his head in agreement as he cuddled her close. Unfortunately their quiet moment was soon disturbed by a rumbling in the distance. They both got up and noticed several Sentinels in the distance moving towards them. Dinah and Ollie rushed back into the house.

Superman met them at the door and had a frown on his face. "I can see at least ten Sentinels heading this way," he said as Rogue, Gambit and Vision stood behind him.

"I thought Bats' devices masked us?" Green Arrow said as some suspicions rose in the back of his mind.

"Their current heading is directly towards this house," Vision said in his mechanical voice. "My sensors have detected three from the north, two from the south, three from the east and two from the west heading in this direction and they will all be here in less then one minute."

"Superman contact J'onn, I think were going to need back up," Black Canary said. Superman nodded his head as he closed his eyes for a few moments.

"He is sending Captain Atom, Aurora and Banshee who are the closest to our location," Superman replied and added, "Ready yourselves for attack." The group made sure their weapons were ready while listening for the approaching Sentinels.

Green Arrow gripped his bow tighter as the house shook slightly from the massive machines walking towards them. "Any change in direction?" Green Arrow asked nervously.

Both Vision and Superman shook there heads no. It was clear that they were being targeted. "Well I'm not hiding in here and waiting to be crushed by them," Green Arrow said as he made his way towards the door.

Superman stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. "I think we should retreat to another location as we are going to be clearly outnumbered. Maybe if we leave now they won't see us." But a blast from the room behind them made retreat impossible. They were going to have to fight. Everyone ran out of the house and stared up at the Sentinels just a few hundred feet away. The house exploded behind them. Superman, Rogue and Vision took flight and flew towards the closer Sentinels. The three were soon peppered by laser fire. Vision phased out letting the lasers past through his body. Rogue and Superman shook off the fire power as they flew towards the mighty machines.

Green Arrow grabbed Black Canary's hand and ran with Gambit right behind them. He was charging up cards and throwing them behind him as they tried to escape. A distant howl could be heard the three looked up and saw Captain Atom, Aurora and Banshee fly by. Captain Atom was firing blasts of radiation at the Sentinels as Aurora did the same with her energy blasts. Banshee landed in front of the three.

"I can only carry one." he said in a deep Irish accent as he inhaled deeply. Green Arrow shoved Black Canary towards him.

"Take he and get her out of here," he said.

Dinah glared at Ollie."I didn't join the League to be rescued at the first sign of trouble like a little girl," she growled.

The argument was very short lived as a Sentinel's massive foot crashed down next to them. They all looked up as its palm pointed at them. The laser blast caused the group to scatter as it hit the ground. Green Arrow watched as Black Canary landed fifty feet away completely unconscious. The Sentinel's foot rose in the air ready to crush her.

Ollie struggled to get up while watching in horror as it was coming down on his beloved. Gambit, seeing his ally in danger, picked up a discarded two by four and charged it with as much energy he could. He threw it at the Sentinel's leg, it hit and exploded causing a hole to appear in the armor. The Sentinel turned toward Remy and shot a laser blast, which he barely avoided.

While the Sentinel was distracted by Gambit, Banshee, the closest to Black Canary, ran over and tried to help move Black Canary out of the way as she slowly regained consciousness. Unfortunately, the foot then started its downward movement towards them before he could get them clear.

Banshee not knowing what else to do let out a powerful vocal blast at the metal foot. Black Canary, in a daze and seeing the horror about to befall her, did the same. Green Arrow stared in awe as the air around the two vibrated violently. Suddenly the Sentinel's chest and head exploded causing the off balance robot to fall backwards with a massive thud that knocked the two heroes to the ground.

Green Arrow ran to Black Canary and helped her back up as Banshee staggered towards an old dumpster and leaned against it. The two vocal powered heroes looked winded from their combined blast.

"Are you okay Dinah?" Ollie asked as he cradled her in his arms.

Dinah smiled at him and caressed his cheek before whispering, "I'm fine just a little winded."

Banshee finally caught his breath and stood straight while Dinah did the same. The two looked at each other as they both acknowledged what they had just done with a smile.

They looked up and saw the battle happening around them. "Banshee I think we can destroy those Sentinels if we combine our powers," Dinah said.

"Aye lassie I believe you're correct. Are you up fer another round?" he asked. She nodded and they moved towards the next closest Sentinel and once again combined there vocal powers. That Sentinel and the one behind it exploded from their chests and heads like the first one. This time, since they where not fearing their deaths, they hadn't used there full power. They were able to destroy the metal beasts without getting completely winded, so they moved onto the next one.

Over the next few minutes their combined cry was heard five more times and the remaining Sentinels all were destroyed. Superman, Vision, Captain Atom, Aurora and Rouge joined the others on the ground as the last Sentinel fell to the ground.

"What just happened?" Rogue asked.

"Banshee and Black Canary merged their vocal powers which caused the artificial kryptonite in the Sentinels to vibrate at a frequency where it broke down and exploded. I can not detect any kryptonite within the Sentinels' frames now," he said in his mechanical voice.

Superman realized that he didn't feel any weakness from being close to the Sentinels and his shocked expression turned into a large smile. "Looks like we may finally have a weapon to use against them!"

* * *

Spiderman swung along the large buildings with Batman and Wolverine not far behind him swinging by their grappling hooks. Diana flew with her arm around Ororo, carrying her since creating the winds that Ororo used to fly would attract unwanted attention.

Spiderman got to the peek of his swing and released the webbing from his hand's grip. A couple of full flip rotations and Spiderman landed on top of the building. Batman and Wolverine landed next and Wonder Woman and Storm soon after them. Spiderman walked over to the other side of the building and looked over. A mini traffic jam was occurring below the three story building. Limos were pulling up in front of one of the luxury buildings across the street.

Batman, Wolverine, Storm and Wonder Woman followed his lead and looked over the ledge. "Looks like they're not having a hard time of it like the others it this city." Wolverine growled.

"Is this the address?" Diana asked. Batman pulled out a pair of binoculars and looked through them as he nodded his head.

Wolverine did the same and scanned the crowed of people as they entered the building. He also took a deep breath to see if he could identify any of their scents. "So what is the plan?" he asked gruffly.

Batman pulled his binoculars away from his face and rubbed his chin. There were many possible ways for them to enter the building and look around. His thoughts were interrupted by J'onn contacting him telepathically.

_*We may have a way to defeat the Sentinels.*_ J'onn mentally transmitted to the group minus Spiderman with whom he did not have a mental connection. The four looked at each other and smiled in unison.

Spiderman noticed their sudden smiles and asked, "What is going on?"

Diana looked at the man in the spider costume and said, "We may have a way to defeat the Sentinels."

Even with his face covered you could see the smile on Spiderman's face."Great!"

_*Get Stark to work on it, we are working on a lead.*_ Batman's rough mental voice said in the group link up with J'onn. J'onn had just explained how they could use sound waves to destroy the Sentinel's power generators.

Before the others could say anything, Logan caught a scent and turned quickly towards the limos on the street. Standing with a dark haired man dressed in a black Victorian tuxedo was somebody he wasn't expecting to see. She was wearing a black Victorian gown and her beautiful red hair was coiled up in a old fashioned pompadour. Logan pulled Ororo around and pointed to the street. Her mouth dropped opened as she saw Jean Grey walk arm in arm with a man in black towards the front doors of the building.


	11. Sebastian Shaw

A/N: Don't own these character's so don't sue me.

Many thanks to the talented and incredible DaisyJane for the awe-inspiring beta! The villains are slowly starting to show their faces now.

Enjoy all.

**Dark Claw 2: Sentinels Hellfire Rising.**

**Chapter 11: Sebastian Shaw.**

"What is she doing with Sebastian Shaw?" Logan growled.

"You know who he is?" Diana asked as she joined her comrades whose eyes were fixed on the man and woman entering the building. She remembered the red head, Jean Grey, from when she helped them destroy the Sentinels the first time.

Logan nodded his head and so did Ororo. Bruce knew who Sebastian was from his shared memories with Logan.

"He is one of the top members of the Hellfire Club and a total bastard. We... I mean the X-Men have had a few run-ins with him and the Club before." Logan sighed as he rubbed his temples in frustration trying to figure out what he should do next.

"I have to help Jean," Logan gruffly hissed as he turned and looked down at the door that the couple had just entered. He took a step closer to the roof's edge. Bruce noticed Logan's body language, the man was about to do something that would blow their cover.

Batman grabbed Logan by the shoulder and twisted him around. Logan growled at Bruce for stopping him.

"It's Jean, we gotta to rescue her!" he growled at Bruce.

"We don't know the situation at the moment, she could be working for them." Batman said stoically.

Logan glared at Bruce before sneering, "Jean would never willing work with those people. She ain't like that."

Bruce stood his ground."You said she hasn't been in contract with you or anyone from your group in over a month. From your memories, the Hellfire Club is not adverse to using mind control. She could be completely brainwashed and a liability if we try to extract her now without knowing more about the situation," Batman reminded Logan.

"Jean would not allow that to happen. She is one of the most powerful telepaths in the world and can block attacks like that," Logan reasoned back.

"Maybe and maybe she was overconfident and they got her. A month is a long time to break someone mentally," Bruce continued stoically.

Logan's hands tightened into fists and a distinct SNIKT was heard as his claws shot out in frustration. He knew Bruce was correct, he had seen it done to too many people during war to get vital information. Ororo placed a concerned hand onto Logan's shoulder.

Logan turned wildly and grabbed Ororo by the upper arms and looked intensely into her cowled face. "You don't think Jean would be part of that group?" he asked Ororo.

Ororo hid her pain behind a calm expression as she pulled away from Logan. She was worried about her friend as well but she felt envious of her too as it appeared that Logan was still very much it love with Jean. "Jean would never willingly side with Sebastian Shaw but I think what Bruce says makes sense. She was trying to rescue Scott and the Professor and she could have been taken while trying to get to them. The Hellfire Club would stop at nothing to control someone as powerful as Jean."

Logan hung his head and retracted his claws, momentarily calmed by her soft voice and sound reasoning.

"Uhm guys, I hate to interrupt be we have company approaching," Spiderman said as he pointed to a squad of Sentinels flying low over the buildings a few blocks away. They would be over top of them in moments. They ran back towards the other side of the roof and jumped over the edge of it. Spiderman fired off a web to slow his descent while Batman and Wolverine used there grappling hooks. Diana grabbed Ororo and the two floated down together.

The group hid in darkness of the alley as the Sentinels flew over head. Diana felt a tenseness in her friend and saw Ororo's lips tremble slightly. "Are you okay sister?" Diana asked in concern tightening her arm around her to offer comfort.

Ororo was grateful for Diana's concern but still shrugged her shoulders and said in a flat tone,"I will manage."

Diana grabbed Ororo's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. She did not know the right words to say to cheer up her friend, who, even though she had only known her a short time, felt like one of her sisters. Diana knew what it was like to deal with a difficult man but she never had felt insecure in Bruce's affection.

"Don't give up hope. I have seen the way he looks at you and he cares very much about you," Diana said with a lopsided smile. Ororo gave Diana a small smile and nodded her head.

"Looks like they did not detect us," Batman said as he pulled away from the shadows of the alleyway.

"We need to get in there and find out what Jean is doing and what those assholes have done to her," Logan growled.

Bruce frowned at his suggestion. "Diana and I will go inside and check things out. Spiderman, Wolverine and Storm I need you to resume your watch on the rooftop and warn us if we need to get out," he said.

Wolverine stalked over to Batman and hissed, "I'm going too, batboy."

Batman raised himself to his full height and glare at Wolverine, "I'm leader of this group and you will do as I say."

Logan got completely in Bruce's face and growled, "You may be the leader bub but I'm coming along."

"No, you are not in the right frame of mind and you will jeopardize the mission." Batman said coldly as the two tried to stare the other down.

Diana stepped in. "Batman is correct Wolverine, you are not acting rationally. I am sorry about your colleague and friend being in danger but you will not help her by barging into the enemy's stronghold." Logan turned his wrath towards the Amazon. *SNIKT* out came his claws again with a growl. Diana just stared back, unafraid as she raised a regal eyebrow at him and said calmly, "If you continue to act this way I will be forced to incapacitate you."

Logan just growled at her again but she refused to back down and prepared to attack. Bruce saw her body tense and stated, "I would not test her combat capabilities Wolverine. Diana has had several life times more training then you have, her bracelets are impervious to your claws and she is fast enough to block high speed bullets without breaking a sweat. I do not think you can move your claws faster then a bullet. Not to mention she is strong enough to make a dent in your adamantium skull."

"Logan they are right. We cannot be foolish if we want to get Jean back safely," Ororo stated in a soft voice.

Wolverine glared at Diana for another moment before he turned to Ororo and his expression softened. "I guess you're right 'Ro," he exhaled loudly and gave Bruce and Diana a final angry look before saying, "Fine, we'll be look outs."

"Remember to maintain radio silence and if you spot any trouble heading our way contract J'onn and have him warn us. If we get captured do not try to rescue us. Return to the hotel room and contact J'onn for reinforcements," Bruce said.

Logan grunted his acknowledgement while the others nodded. Diana wrapped her arm around Bruce and they silently floated over to the other roof top across the road. The others returned to the roof. Logan watched as they slipped inside the building from the rooftop doorway access point.

Logan stomped over to the edge of the roof and looked down at the building. _What are you doing with that man Jeannie? It must have something to do with Chuck or Scooter cause I know Red would never willingly associate with someone so viciously evil, _Logan thought to himself. Spiderman joined him and looked at the opposite end of the building.

Ororo stood back and was deep in thought. _I am such a fool, thinking there was something more than friendship between the two of us._ _He only sees me as a teammate and nothing more. It's the same as it's always been, he's in love with Jean even if she is with Scott. I will never mean as much to him as her. _She blinked back the tears and took a deep breath. _How could I be such an idiot as to fall in love with Logan. Well it doesn't matter now, I'll just bury the feelings until they go away. I'm good at that._

* * *

The Black King's cell phone rang as he and his female companion sat at a large table with others loyal to him. He grabbed the phone from his pocket and answered it.

"Yes?" he asked.

"What d'ya think yer doin', ya almost got moi killed bâtard!" the angry man said over the phone.

Sebastian Shaw smirked as he listened to the other man's voice. "That would have been very unfortunate."

"Dis is bullsit I'm out, find yerself another stooge!" he hissed.

Sebastian's eyes sparkled in amusement."Then your sister and the rest of your so called clan of a family will parish. Louisiana is yours if you continue to help me trap and capture those renegades."

The man on the phone let out a frustrated sigh. "Dis fine, but you non get off scott free," amusement now in the mans voice, "Dey may've discovered a way ta bring ya down."

"What?" he demanded no longer amused.

His host walked over to the him and asked, "Is everything fine Sire?"

Sebastian glared daggers at the man, causing the man to take a few steps back from him and he cowed the him into silence.

He could hear the laughter in the other man's voice and his stomach burned with anger. "Dey hava way ta destroy da Sentinels without even touching dem."

"HOW?!" Sebastian raged causing the gathering of people to stop eating and look at their King. Ignoring their stares he waited for the answer.

"Sound, dey discover a frequency dat destroy de kryptonite in da machines," he said.

This news enraged and worried the Black King. Without the kryptonite power source and central processing unit the machines would be useless. The old power supply and CPUs would not work with the new design, and the Master Molds currently producing the Sentinels were not set up to create the old ones. It would take weeks to rebuild the old systems and months to produce enough Sentinels.

"Contract me in twenty-four hours or sooner if you learn anything important." Sebastian hissed as he snapped his phone closed disconnecting the call.

* * *

Superman, Black Canary, Rogue, Green Arrow and Vision entered the abandoned factory. This would be their new hiding position.

"Where did Gambit run off to?" Green Arrow asked in annoyance. He still didn't trust the Cajun. Besides, Ollie was getting sick and tired of hiding in rundown buildings.

Rogue glared at Green Arrow and spoke up for her sort of boyfriend. "He's acquiring supplies, since that Sentinels destroyed them."

Green Arrow threw his hands up in surrender. "Sorry sweetheart, I didn't mean to upset you. I was just asking. We need to watch each other's backs and nobody told me he was getting supplies."

Superman looked contrite. "Sorry, but it was a decision that needed to be done quickly. We just can't fly back and forth when we run out of supplies. It will draw too much attention."

"An' Gambit is good a' scrounging up stuff," Rouge put in.

Green Arrow nodded his head in agreement. _I bet he is, _he thought as he couldn't completely shake the feeling of suspicion when it came to Remy.

Just then J'onn's mental voice entered the minds of the group. *_Your discovery has given us an advantage.*_ Everyone paused and paid attention to his mental message. *_I've contacted Iron man and __he has a secret lab in New York. He needs Black Canary to be transported there.*_

Green Arrows eyes narrowed angrily. *_Like hell she is going to be experimented on!*_ Came his angry protest into the group mind link.

Dinah placed a hand on Ollie's shoulder. "I will be fine, if it helps us destroy these Sentinels I will do what is needed."

Before he could respond to Dinah, J'onn's thoughts transmitted again._*He just needs Banshee and her to do their sonic screams together to find out what range of sound frequencies works to breakdown and destroy the artificial kryptonite.*_

Dinah placed a hand on her hip and smirked letting him know that he had nothing to worry about. Ollie sighed in understanding before saying, "I just love you so much baby that I don't want anything to happen to you." Dinah kissed him to let him know she understood and that she loved him too.

A moment later there was a flash of light and black smoke and Nightcrawler appeared near the group.

"I vill transport you miene dame," he said in his soft accented voice. Dinah nodded her head nervously as Nightcrawler walked over and took her hand. Before she could even look at Ollie she and Kurt disappeared on another flash of light and smoke.

Superman placed a hand on Green Arrow's shoulder. "She will be fine, J'onn would never allow anything to happen to any one on the team and neither would I."

Green Arrow looked up at the massive man and gave him a slight smile."I know Superman." _I just wish I could have gone with her,_ Ollie thought.

* * *

Batman and Wonder Woman stealthily moved around the top floor of the three story building. There were luxurious bedrooms and a massive den. Batman spotted a computer on the massive desk within the den. He swiftly moved to the desk and pulled out the chair and turned on the computer.

Diana stood by the door keeping watch as he tried to crack the password to the system. It took Batman a few tries but he managed to gain access to the computer through a back door. The system was similar to an old system Wayne Tech had used for their main frames. Bruce smirked as he thought how both worlds were so different in many ways but the same in others.

"In," he simply stated as he took out a small USB drive from his utility belt. He pushed it into the socket. Bruce found a large portion of the main hard drive was encrypted and started the download process of copying it to the USB drive. While the information on the computer downloaded, Bruce searched the computer's hard drive to see if he could find anything of interest that wasn't encrypted. Bruce located the owner's email address book and started to look at the names on the list.

His eyes enlarged as one name jumped out at him so he sent the address book to be printed. The laser printer next to the desk came to life and started to quietly print out the information. Bruce continued his look for any important information on the unencrypted part of the driver. He frowned when he found nothing else of importance.

The encrypted files finished copying and he pulled out the device and placed it in his utility belt, then shut down the system. He grabbed the papers with the names from the address book and stealthily moved towards Diana who was still keeping an eye out.

"There is nothing of importance other than the address book that I could get access to so I will need to go to the command center to crack the encryption on the super computer there," he whispered. Diana nodded her head as they both made their exit out of the building.

Diana once again quietly flew them across to the other building. Batman pulled out the printed names and handed them to Logan.

"One name should be of interest to you," Batman said cryptically.

Logan turned towards the light coming from a street light next building and started to read down the list. His mouth opened and he turned and growled as he said, "That son of a bitch, I know he hates humanity but to ally with these nut cases!"


	12. Magneto

A/N: Don't own these character's so don't sue me.

Many thanks to the talented and incredible DaisyJane for the awe-inspiring beta! The main villains are almost completely shown now.

Sorry about the long delay, but as I've stated before this is one of the hardest stories I've written. Way to many characters to keep track of, never again will I have so many heroes and villains in the same story! lol Well maybe not, how knows. :)

Enjoy all.

**Dark Claw 2: Sentinels Hellfire Rising.**

**Chapter 12: Magneto.**

"Eric Lensherr..." Logan hissed in disbelief as Ororo grabbed the list to see the name with her own eyes.

"Magneto is working with them? I can't believe it," she said, clearly surprised as Logan started to pace angrily. Spiderman's body stiffened as well at the news that Magneto was part of the Hellfire Club. Diana looked at Batman in confusion.

"From your report Batman, Magneto is in charge of Genosha. A haven for mutants, correct?" Diana asked Bruce. Bruce nodded his head to answer her but frowned and wondered why Magneto would partner with the Hellfire Club.

"The man is hell bent on destroying humanity. Maybe he thought an alliance with the Hellfire Club would help to quicken his plans," Logan said momentarily interrupting Bruce's train of thought.

"Magneto's motives are always hard to read," Batman stated. "We most likely will not know what he is planning until it happens." Everyone that knew the enigmatic Eric Lensherr had to nod their heads in agreement.

"So what do we do next besides waiting to see what Magneto is up to?" Spiderman asked.

"I'm afraid we are going to have to delay getting the supplies to your group as the information on this drive needs to be decrypted first. It may contain vital information," Batman stated stoically.

"I understand and my people can survive a few more days without them," Spiderman replied.

"Good, you can return to them but take this," Batman stated as he pulled out a communicator from a pouch and handed it to Spiderman. "Use it to contact us in twenty-four hours. Do not leave the line open for more then thirty seconds, any longer and the Sentinels will be able to triangulate the signal and your location. We will be able to locate you in that time."

"Where are we going?" Wolverine asked.

"Back to the command center, I need the computer there to decrypt this data," Batman stated.

Spiderman waved his hand before he back flipped over the building's edge and disappeared. Diana pulled out her lasso, Ororo forced her way to the front of the lasso. Diana raised an eyebrow in question as it seemed that Ororo didn't want to be near Logan but Ororo ignored her. Bruce was second and Logan was last to wrap the lasso around his body. Diana lifted off with the three bats dangling under her.

* * *

_Scott are you there? Please respond to me, _a voice seemed to call out to him and Scott groaned in his sleep.

_Leave us alone_! a female voice stridently yelled back.

J'onn continued to try to hold onto the mental link he had created with Scott while also communicating with the woman. _Why are you keeping him drugged?_ J'onn felt a strong wave of desperation in the female's thoughts.

_Because I love him and **she** does not deserve him!_ she mentally hissed at him.

_So keeping him hostage is how you show love?_ J'onn calmly questioned, trying to understand her twisted reasoning. He felt another wave of confusion and desperation from the female.

_I love him, he needs me!... I need him..he should be mine,_ she stated begging for his understanding.

_I know about love and loss and this is not love but obsession. If you truly did love Scott you would let him go, Emma. You would let him be happy with the woman that he truly loves,_ J'onn stated. He felt another wave of emotion from her and this time it was mostly fear mixed with painful longing. He could tell that Emma desperately wanted to be loved and he tried to send compassionate thoughts to her. Suddenly J'onn's mind screamed with pain as the link was forcefully broken with a hard psychic blast from Emma.

"Are you okay J'onn?" Captain America asked him as he watched the large Martian rub his head.

J'onn's eyes stopped glowing as he responded, "Yes, I just ran into a road block trying to locate Scott Summers. So how are all the teams doing?"

Captain America looked at a few displays. "They all seem to be holding up pretty well, no other teams besides Superman's have been attacked and they have found a new place to hide for now. Iron Man is currently working with Black Canary and Banshee on a weapon. I hope they can create something useful soon," he said as he gave J'onn a weary look.

J'onn nodded his head but his eyes started to glow again as he received a mental message. "Batman and his team are returning here, they have some data to decrypt and they have been able to contact Spiderman and update him on our progress."

Captain America rubbed his chin and said tersely, "I hope Batman has a good reason for coming here when they should be gathering intelligence in the field."

J'onn stared at Captain America before stating in an almost amused tone, "Batman always does, I can guarantee that." Captain America smiled and shook his head at J'onn, he liked the green skinned Martian. He was quiet, efficient and absolutely honest and probably the nicest guy he'd ever met.

* * *

"Okay I want both of you to project your sonic cries again at the metal box," Tony stated as he worked in the control room. They were running many different tests trying to isolate the frequencies needed to destroy the artificial kryptonite. The box was made from a metal similar to the armor encasing the Sentinels and there was a chunk of the artificial kryptonite inside of it. He looked down at the two vocal powered mutants and continued, "Start out low at first we don't want to destroy the room and I want to get a reading of the lowest amount of power needed to break down the kryptonite." Black Canary and Banshee nodded their heads in acknowledgement as they turned to the metal box.

They had been testing different frequencies and power levels all day. Tony had tested to see if either one could destroy the kryptonite without the other. The room was designed to handle one hundred eighty decibels and both vocal heroes had nearly broken that limit without even really trying, but neither could shatter the artificial kryptonite inside the metal box without the other's help. So then he tested them together asking them to increase and decrease the power behind their combined sonic blast. The sound of their combined screams was eerily haunting and raised goosebumps on Tony's arms.

They both took a deep breath and slowly started to send the lowest sonic waves that they could manage at the metal box. Tony had the room set up to record from all directions in the large lab. He would need find out what sonic frequencies were needed to shatter the artificial kryptonite so he could create a machine to mimic their combined cry.

Suddenly Tony felt a little nauseous and the glass in the control room started to wobble as they slowly increased the strength of their sonic blasts. Soon the video display showed the kryptonite exploding violently inside the box. He clicked on the mic and yelled, "Enough!"

Black Canary and Banshee stopped their screams and each took deep breaths needing to replace the air they had just expended. Tony, in the mean time, studied all the readings on the many displays and analyzed the data from the previous experiments. The readings were a bit erratic but after so many tests he was able to isolate a range of frequencies where the artificial kryptonite broke down. He smiled as he looked down at the two and give them a thumbs up.

He uploaded the frequency data to a make shift sound generating rifle he had created. It was large and cumbersome but would do for a prototype. He had a smaller and more practical design for the actual weapons but this rifle would allow him to test and see if it was possible to copy their vocal patterns effectively enough to create a usable weapon. He picked up the large device and walked down to the two heroes.

"Banshee get another piece of artificial kryptonite and place it inside the metal box," Tony requested as he entered the large room. Banshee walked to the next room to comply with his request while Tony double checked to make sure all the connections were correct and that the gun was reading the right frequency range.

"So you think that will mimic our voices enough to destroy the kryptonite?" Dinah asked.

Tony smirked as he turned his attention to the blond bomb shell momentarily admiring her legs in the black fishnet stockings. "If It doesn't sweetheart I'll buy you dinner. Hell I'll buy you dinner even if it does," he said with a wink.

Dinah rolled her eyes at Tony's behavior but returned his smile. He was a hopeless flirt like Ollie but she could tell he was harmless. And Dinah had to admit that her ego had received quite a boost since coming to this universe.

"As I've already stated, I'm spoken for," she said sweetly as she placed her hands on her hips and gave him a stern look though her eyes twinkled a bit as she looked at him.

Tony laughed merrily. "You can't blame a guy for trying, honey, especially with a woman as fine as you."

Banshee returned with another piece of kryptonite interrupting their banter. He opened the door on the metal box and placed it inside then closed it and walked over to where the others were standing. Tony flicked a switch on the rifle and it started to hum.

"Computer record," Tony said out loud.

The computer replied back, "Recording."

Tony aimed the device at the metal and pressed a button near where the trigger should be. Black Canary and Banshee saw the air in front of the device distort. They also could hear a sound similar to their own combined screams emitting from it. Tony's eyes moved from the rifle to a few display monitors near him watching to see it the rifle was effective.

Tony suddenly smiled and he released the button as he saw the kryptonite explode. "It works, computer stop recording!"

"Recording stopped," it stated.

"Good, so how are ye goin' ta manufacture these devices, laddie?" Banshee asked in his thick Irish brogue.

Tony smiled as he placed the makeshift rifle down on a table next to him. "Computer, mass produce Sound Rifle Design A and program them to produce the sound frequencies located file test-1-20 on the sound boards memory."

"As you request, Mr. Stark. How many would you like produced," the computer asked.

Tony looked at his two companions in question. "Does one thousand sound okay to you?" Banshee shrugged his shoulders as he was not sure how many they would need and Dinah nodded her head in agreement with Tony's number. "One thousand will do for now. How long will it take and how many more can be created with the supplies we have available?" he asked the computer.

The computer replied, "It will take twenty three point six hours to complete one thousand rifles to your stated specifications. We have enough supplies to create ten thousand two hundred thirty-one more sound rifles."

Tony rubbed his hands together. "Good, continue to produce as many as you can but tell me when the first one thousand are completed."

A few beeps from the intercom system could be heard then a mild rumbling could be felt.

Under the lab a massive automated manufacturing plant started to come to life.

Tony turned to his two companions. "Hungry?" he asked them as they walked out of testing room. Dinah and Sean fell into step with Tony.

"Whah doesn't tis place 'ave?" Sean asked Tony.

Tony eyed Dinah and sighed dramatically before replying, "Not enough single and beautiful women." Which earned him a laugh from both of his companions.

* * *

Diana carefully deposited Ororo, Bruce and Logan on the ground before landing herself. She wrapped her lasso back into a loop and folded it before placing it in the compartment in her suit that Bruce created just for her lasso.

Batman walked into the mobile command center with the other three in tow. Captain America and J'onn greeted the team.

"J'onn tells me you have some important information," Captain America stated. Batman's only response was to walk to a computer terminal, sit and slip the drive into an open port. Captain America was stunned for a moment by Batman's lack of response then shook his head and chuckled. Clearly he was a man of few words just like he outlined in his report on himself.

Diana smiled brightly at J'onn. "Any news from the others?" she asked.

"Yes Iron Man has been able to replicate Black Canary and Banshee's combined scream and program it into a weapon. They are just waiting for them to be manufactured," J'onn related to the newly arrived heroes. J'onn felt extreme sadness and realized he was picking up Storm's feelings.

_Are you okay Ororo?_ J'onn asked her telepathically.

_Sorry J'onn, it's personal and I would rather not go into it, _she responded.

_Understood but I am here for you if you need to talk to someone,_ he conveyed.

Ororo gave him a wan smile and thought, _Thank you J'onn, you are sweet and you remind me so much of Professor Xavier. I'll let you know._

"So what's the plan now that we have this new weapon?" Logan asked Captain America interrupting J'onn's telepathic conversation with Ororo.

Captain America said, "If Iron Man's sonic rifles work the way we need them to then we attack. Too many people have died or are suffering for us to stay put and do nothing."

Logan flashed a feral smile showing his canines and let out a happy growl at hearing this news. He was a man of action and this sitting around and waiting for the right opportunity was making him nuts.

"About fuckin' time, I'm gettin' tired of hiding. Let's make these bastards pay!"

The group was interrupted by Batman standing back up. "Nothing on the files is of importance to us," he said in a hard tone frowning in disappointment. He hated wasting time on dead ends. "We should return to New York and plan our next move. We will be waiting on you, Captain America, to inform us on the status of the rifles and your plan of attack." Batman swiftly left the trailer with Logan right behind him.

"Bye J'onn," Diana said as she gave him a quick hug before leaving her friend and joining Bruce and Logan outside. J'onn looked at Ororo as he still sensed her melancholy.

_I am here if you need me,_ he said to her telepathically. He had seen the sad way she had looked at Logan.

_I know, _she replied as she looked at J'onn and gave him a small smile before leaving the trailer.

_Sometimes love can be hard for humans especially when they are hard headed and stubborn, _J'onn thought to himself before he returned to his work.

* * *

Eric Lensherr sat on a throne in a large open room. His head was resting against the cushioned back as he relaxed in his quiet court room. Wanda his daughter was on the other side of the island country known as Genosha working on defenses against the Sentinels and her brother Pietro was fortifying the defenses on this side of the island. Magneto knew that Sebastian Shaw would betray him sometime soon so being prepared and ready for an attack was a high priority.

Lately, Eric had exploited several of Shaw's weaknesses but Sebastian's most powerful weapon, Jean Grey, Magneto could not get close enough to take out. Sebastian watched and protected her like his own life depended on it. Which it did. Eric had been secretly gaining more allies within the Hellfire Club than Sebastian had at the moment.

The only thing keeping Eric from moving against Sebastian at the moment was the Sentinels as Sebastian had total control over them for now. Eric knew he could destroy several Sentinel's without breaking a sweat, but he could not take them all on even with the many mutants that followed him. He also could not interfere with their programming since there CPU's were crystal and not metal based.

When Sebastian had come to him about joining the Hellfire Club and told him of his plans, he had readily agreed thinking that this could be the time to finally remove all humans from the planet. But after he found out about the injuries that Sebastian's actions had inflicted on his old friend Charles, he'd become furious. He knew that once the humans were gone that he and Charles would have no further conflict. Eric demanded that he be allowed to care for Charles. Sebastian knew of Eric's past friendship with Charles. Eric also knew why Sebastian had allowed him to take Charles. Sebastian thought Eric would be too concerned with Charles' well being to focus on Sebastian.

Eric smiled at that thought. If Sebastian only knew what Eric was doing with Charles he would never have allowed Eric to take Charles. He felt a tinge of regret for what he had ordered his scientists and physicians to do to his dearest and oldest friend but it was for the good of all mutant kind and he knew how much Charles prided himself on helping mutants.

Charles might or might not have survived without the operations, but now Eric had the perfect host for his technology. Charles had always had the silly belief that mutants and humans could co-exist peacefully. Eric new that was rubbish and now he was using his friend to eliminate them. Eric was brought out of his reverie when the massive double doors to his court opened.

A being the was half man and half machine walked into the room. He stopped several feet away from his master's throne, knelt and bowed his head. "Lord Magneto the operation was a success, Charles is now totally under your control. His cybernetic implants have been tested and he can take over the network once you plug him into it." His metal face conveyed no emotion.

Eric nodded his head slowly as a sinister smile spread across his face. "Excellent, go now and get him prepared to leave." Eric returned to his brooding ways, tacitly dismissing the metal man who turned and walked away. He could almost taste his victory. Soon humanity would be an after thought, mutant kind could live without persecution and he could rule over them all.


	13. Lover's Found and Lost

N/A: I don't know these characters, so don't sue me.

Wow it's been a long time since I've last update this story. Sorry for the long delay everyone. I have plotted the whole story out, just lost my motivation to finish it. If the comments want me to continue I will.

A Special thank you to DaisyJane for the beta, this story would be a stinkfest without your input.

**Chapter 13 : Lovers Found and Lost.**

Ororo stood on the rooftop of the rundown hotel staring at the stars in the sky since most of New York was dark due to the Sentinels occupation of the city. She missed the Xavier Mansion and her attic room. She missed her plants and the gardens and her old life before she had allowed herself to develop feelings for Logan.

She had always kept an emotional barrier against the attraction she felt for him, but it had started to weaken when he merged with Bruce. He had always had a bad temper before they merged, and he still got angry quite often, but now he had more control over it. He didn't let his rage take over as much. She also had to admit that she found it sexy that he was now taller than her.

Then the Sentinels attacked and they were on the run fighting for their lives and depending on each other in ways they never had before. Logan had stepped up and helped her lead the other X-Men after the mansion had been destroyed, and she found herself developing stronger feelings for him. He became her rock and she had lost her heart to the gruff ruffian.

But seeing him so desperate to get Jean back had hurt. Not that she didn't want to rescue her best friend from that horrible man, but she hadn't gone crazy and she had known that they couldn't extract her without a sound plan, especially if the Phoenix was involved. Logan, on the other hand, had been willing to risk all their lives and jeopardize the entire mission to save his beloved Jean. Even though she was clearly committed to Scott, he still wanted her. Ororo had learned that bitter lesson on that rooftop.

The wind blew around her as her emotions were restless. She didn't know that she looked beautiful standing in the moonlight with her thick white hair blowing around and her lovely face turned up to the sky but the man watching her certainly did. He took a deep breath and caught her scent in the air. He really loved the way she smelled. She caught a whiff of cigar smoke and stiffened. _Couldn't he just leave me alone_, she thought as her emotions were just too raw to deal with him right now. She decided to ignore him and hoped that he would go away.

"Ya been quiet since yesterday, somethin' botherin' ya 'Ro?" he asked in his low gruff voice.

"I am fine Logan, I just want to be alone. Four people in a small room can get on a girl's nerves," she said in a calm voice.

"I hear ya, feel like sinking my claws inta Bruce at least three times a day," he responded.

"Or drinking yourself into oblivion," she said in a harsher tone than she intended.

"Does my drinkin' bother ya," he asked a little taken aback by her anger. He'd been drinking like a fish for years, but she'd never said anything about it before.

"Not at all, Logan. In fact, I am sure there is another bottle of whiskey in the room, and I bet Jimmy would love to share it with you," she said in a sweet voice as she choked down her irritation towards him.

"If I didn't know better, I'd think ya was trying to get rid of me," he said trying to lighten Ororo's bad mood. Something had certainly pissed her off if the winds bombarding them were any indication.

She just gave him a glare then turned back to continue to look up at the stars.

"Jeez 'Ro have I done somethin' to piss ya off, cause I'm at a loss darlin'," he said.

She felt a serge of anger at him for not leaving her alone and couldn't help the words that burst from her mouth, "Are you in love with Jean?" Ororo suddenly wanted the roof to open up and swallow her whole. Why had she asked him that?

"What! Are ya kiddin' me?" he choked out with a laugh earning him another glare from Ororo. "Look darlin', I won't lie ta ya and say that I'm not attracted to Jeannie, and I like flirtin' with her cause it really pisses off Scooter but I ain't in love with her."

"Then why did you freak out when you saw her with Sebastian Shaw? Diana nearly had to restrain you from going off half cocked and ruining the mission," she asked curious now to hear his answer as her heart started to swell at hearing that he wasn't in love with Jean.

"Well I care about her, and I don't like her being in the clutches of that asshole. I would feel the same if it was Jubes, Kitten, Marie, Hank, Kurt or Chuck. I'd even want to rescue Scooter and that stinky Cajun' that Marie fancies herself in love with. Yer my family," he said in a heartfelt tone.

"What about me," she asked in a soft voice.

"Especially you 'Ro. The only difference is Bruce and Diana wouldn't a been able to stop me from gettin' ya," he said softly as he stroked her cheek.

She looked up into his hazel eyes and saw that he meant it. Before she could respond he pulled her into his arms and kissed her passionately. Ororo soon lost herself in his embrace as all the years of repressed feelings were released in her response. He had desired her for years but had always thought that she was unattainable. Why would a goddess want a runt like him?

He pulled away from her lips breathing heavily and buried his face in her neck taking in her smell. She smelt so good to his heightened senses, and she tasted wonderful. He couldn't help the growl that rumbled in his chest. _Mate_, the voice of the Wolverine whispered inside his head. He buried his hands in her thick hair as he kissed and nibbled at her neck eliciting a soft moan from Ororo. She ran her nails down his back, enjoying the feel of his hard muscles. Logan let out another growl in reaction and lifted his head to again look into her sparkling blue eyes.

"I love ya 'Ro and I have loved ya for years but I didn't wanna ruin our friendship because of my lust for ya," he confessed.

She gave him a gentle kiss and said, "I love you too, but I have always been afraid to show you my feelings because I was worried you loved Jean. I also know that you don't really do relationships, and I didn't want to get hurt. But over the last few months my feelings for you have grown so much I can't deny them anymore. I have been so angry thinking that you wanted Jean, and I just couldn't stand it if all I was to you was just a friend and a teammate."

"Yer my best friend darlin' and there is nobody I trust more. I would die to protect ya and I want ya so badly," he said and she kissed him and the two were soon lost in each other again. Logan was quickly aroused but he knew he had to put the brakes on for now. They had a mission to complete and two roommates to deal with.

He escorted Ororo back to their shared room, not trusting himself alone with her.

* * *

Bruce was hunched over typing feverishly on his laptop as Diana sat cross legged on one of the two double beds, she was meditating as he worked on the computer files he retrieved.

"You know sitting like that will cause your spine to curve." she said without opening her eyes.

He gazed over the top of his computer screen. "Adamantium skeleton," he smirked "I also have a beautiful girlfriend that most likely can bend it back into shape."

Her beautiful azure eyes opened wide, she saw his smirk and gave him a wink. The sound of the door unlocking changed the mood in the room. Diana uncrossed her legs as Bruce sat straight. His nose caught their scent, he gave her a quick look to tell her there were not in danger.

Logan opened the door and accompanied Ororo through it, Diana saw the two holding hands. She smiled brightly at Ororo, who returned it. Bruce returned to his lazy posture and continued to work with his computer. A single beep from their communicators caused the group to freeze, Logan tapped his ear.

"Yeah?" he replied curtly.

"Hey grumpy, its Spidy." the chipper voice replied, Logan squeezed Ororo's hand.

"Gather your team and will meet up in an hour at the field near 51st street." Logan said as he disconnected. Bruce typed rapidly on this lap top then shut down the computer.

The group suddenly got a collective mental link from J'onn. _Iron man is testing out the devices now, be ready to move soon._ His usually unemotional voice seemed hopeful, Logan's grinned after J'onn severed the link.

"About time, was starting to get stir crazing sitting here," Logan said then cracked his knuckles.

"Pack up we are leaving." Bruce said as he placed his laptop into a duffel bag, everyone busied themselves to leave.

* * *

An hour later: Bruce, Diana, Logan and Ororo stood in the grassy field overlooking New York harbor. The sun had already set several hours before as the four stood dressed in black Batsuits waiting.

Logan and Bruce smelt the approaching group before they detected them. They saw Spiderman leading a group of seven others. Logan and Bruce knew most of them and were surprised by a few.

Walking on each side of Spiderman was Mary Jane Watson and Felicia **Black Cat** Hardy in full costume. Behind those two was Norman **Green Goblin** Osborn in his green Goblin armor and Dr. Otto **Doctor Octopus** Octavius. Luke Cage and Eddie **Venom** Brock were next and taking up the rear was Matt **Daredevil** Murdock.

What surprised both Logan and Bruce was seeing Doctor Octopus, Green Goblin and Venom. All three were sworn Arch-enemies of his and hated him with a passion. Bruce thought about if he had to team up with any of his rogues gallery. He shuddered at the thought of teaming up with Joker to fight off a common enemy. Some thinks were just impossible.

Another surprise was that Mary Jane and Felicia both were with Spiderman. _Isn't there some kind of love triangle between the three,_ Bruce thought as some of Logan's memories surfaced. Spiderman and his group stopped a few feet away from them.

"This is your entire group?" Logan asked in disbelief.

"Yo nice to see you alive too," Luke bellowed.

Logan smirked at Luke Cage. "Yer the the only S.O.B I know for sure who'd be able to survive this shit." The words caused the large black man to bellow in laughter.

"Damn straight!" he grinned at Logan. "And no this is not the whole group, we're just the big guns."

Logan looked confused at Mary Jane. "Big guns?" he said, questioning her presence.

Mary Jane placed a hand on her hip in defiance. "Yes, you got a problem with me being here?" she asked him in a hard tone, challenging him to say something against her.

Logan held up his hands in defense. "Nope, I don't have a problem with you darlin'," he said. Diana and Ororo both smiled at the ballsy redhead.

Batman interrupted the gabfest. "We called you here because Iron man has a weapon that can bring down those Sentinels."

A hissing sound came from Venom. "Why are we teaming up with them, we have done fine without anyones help so far."

Spiderman turned to the guy with wide grin full of razor sharp teeth. "Because we need to end this and you know that because we already talked about it, Brock."

"Fine, and we are Venom!" he hissed.

"Let's head back to the command center," Logan said as he marched off ready to plan their next move.

* * *

"Jean... JEAN!" Scott screamed in his slumber.

Emma opened the door to the large bedroom and looked at the torment in Scott's sleeping features. The drugs and her attempts at psychic brainwashing were not making him hers. She ran to the bed and gently touched his face.

Kneeling next to the bed, she continued to caress him. "Be at peace now my love, I will make everything better," she whispered to his sleeping form. She closed her eyes and entered his mind once again. She ran into the same block that had been stopping her from taking control.

Using every ounce of willpower she managed to break through the barrier and, once she was passed it, Emma found herself in a room with no doors or windows. The room was all white and was lit by an unknown light source. She turned around in circles until she saw a woman standing with her back to her. She raised an eyebrow in question at the sudden appearance this woman.

"Excuse me but may I ask who you are," she called out to the woman. The woman in the white robe with long flowing red hair turned and greeted Emma with a scornful expression.

"You managed to get passed the mind block I placed on Scott, congratulations. Now leave or you will suffer the consequences." Jean said to she harshly.

Emma took a step back in fear and puzzlement. How could someone create such a powerful barrier and not be nearby? She knew Jean was in New York with Sebastian, and they were thousands of miles away from them.

"He is not yours!" Emma finally managed to yell. She was not going to give up Scott easily.

Jean's face contorted, the white room turned a violent shade of red and shook as she growled, "This is your last warning leave now or suffer!" she commanded.

Emma stood defiant and yelled. "No!"

Jean's glowing green eyes turned to fiery red and suddenly Emma found herself screaming in pain, she broke the connection to him and nearly collapsed from the receding pain.

She looked down at Scott, he finally looked at rest. Emma closed her eyes for a moment to collect her thoughts when she heard Jean's voice once again. However, this time it was not inside her mind, the voice was coming from next to her. She opened her eyes in fright and looked down at Scott's sleeping form.

His mouth moved but another voice came forth. "Release Scott now or I will find and hurt you. This is your very last warning!" Jean's feminine voice said while using Scott as a vessel, causing Emma to jump back.

Scott's head turned and looked at Emma but his eyes remained closed. "RELEASE SCOTT NOW!" Jean's voice commanded once again, then his head returned to its previous position.

Emma stood there in shock at what she had just witnessed. Jean had some how managed to implant a powerful psychic impression on him. She did not know how strong it really was and was actually fearful for her life.

Doubts started to surface in her mind about trying to keep him. At that moment Emma truly did not know what to do.

* * *

The half man half machine humanoid walked awkwardly into Magneto's court room, he bowed to his master. "Lord Magneto, Charles is aboard your transport vessel."

Magneto placed the book he was reading down on his lap. "Good, are the troops ready to leave as well?" he asked.

"They are on the second transport vessel my lord, they are awaiting your arrival," the metal man said.

Magneto stood up and placed the book on his throne. His right hand rose into the air and a metal helmet came floating towards him. "Then it is time to end humanity's duration on Earth," he said as he placed the helmet on his head. The metal man started to walk away, Magneto followed him.

* * *

The group of fifty heroes stood near the command center trailer. Captain America stood at the front of the gathering.

John Stewart watched sourly as Hawkgirl and Angel stood chatting ten feet away. She had only said **Hi** to him even after being gone for so long and he had constantly worried if she was fine. All he wanted to do was hold her, and she seemed to be more interested in that white winged pretty boy. His anger towards Angel was growing as the seconds ticked by.

A flash of lighting from the sky forced the large gathering of heroes to look up. The lighting struck the ground and spread out then enlarged into a half dome of sparkling lights. Once it stopped, Thor was there with his hammer raised above his head.

Close to twenty crates surrounded him as well as Banshee, Black Canary and Iron Man. Iron man walked over to Captain America and held up a device for all to see.

The device looked like an over-sized hairdryer. "This weapon is only effective at twenty meters, I know it is not a great distance, but it was the best I could do in such a short time."

Flash crossed his arms then scoffed. "Twenty meters is fine with me. I will hit them before they even know I'm there."

Northstar placed an arm around Flash's shoulder. "You are not the only one with great speed." He winked then asked, "Race?"

Flash was about to open his mouth and accept the challenge but Batman's deep baritone voice caused him to keep it shut. "This is not a game you two, people's lives are at stake," he said with a glare at the two speedster heroes.

Northstar took his arm off of Flash's shoulder and looked chastised over his behavior.

Captain America spoke up then. "Your great speed will be a positive to this battle. All super speed heroes will be needed the most." His words caused both Flash and Northstar to hold their chins high once again.

"Everyone take two, if one breaks or is misplaced you have a backup," Iron Man's electronic voice bellowed. Everyone marched over to the crates and took two sound guns.

Diana gave Superman a questioning look. "Why are you not taking one?" she asked in confusion and surprise.

"I can mimic Canary's and Banshee's voices and have about the same distance and effect as they do." he said confidently.

Batman stepped nose to nose with Superman, "Have you tested it out?"

Superman frowned at the question. "No," he responded. He hated when Bruce invaded his personal space.

Batman walked over to the closest crate and took out two sound guns and threw them at Superman. He caught them with ease. "Better safe than sorry, wouldn't want Lois pissed off at me for not preventing her big cuddle bunny from being killed," Batman said with a smirk.

Clark's cheeks turned red as he glared at Bruce for using Lois's pet name. _How in Rao's name did he know? _Clark wondered to himself.

Diana, feeling the need to help her best friend, said, "Same goes for you." She tossed Batman a set of guns. "We would not want Alfred angry at us for not bring his little Master Bruce home safe and sound." She gave Bruce her most charming smile as Superman's face split into a huge grin.

Batman glared at Diana for a moment then his face slowly turned to an almost evil smile. She knew that look, he was going to stay something mean or nasty. "Thank you **Princess** or should I said _my_ _little sun and stars_?" he mocked.

Diana's eyes turned to tiny slits as she stared at him, she had told him that information in confidence.

Clark knew that look and Bruce was about to lose a very important body part if he did not run interference. "We have a mission, no more joking around you two," he stated in a loud and clear voice.

Batman was about to smirk when he saw her left eyebrow twitch. He knew he was close to having a very **very** angry Amazon on his hands so he turned to Clark and nodded.

Captain America called out to get everyone's attention. "It is time to stop the Sentinel threat, we have hid for far to long. The people of Earth need us more then ever before. Let's turn all these metal beasts to scrap and bring those responsible to justice!" he yelled. The gathering heroes cheered in support.

Captain America then pulled out one of the many PDA pads Batman had left in the trailer. He had been working out the best strategy in case they got lucky and Iron Man's weapon worked. Within twenty minutes the massive gathering of heroes had left, leaving Captain America to run the battle from the trailer. He sighed as he looked at the large display in the trailer. He watched as the heroes split up into smaller groups as they fanned out. _Tonight we bring hell to those that started this,_ he thought to himself.

* * *

The green monster known as the Hulk stomped through a heavily wooded area in the middle of Virginia. Something or someone was drawing him towards his destination, he knew it would give him the justice he so badly wanted.

He snarled as his mind continued to replay the events from over a week ago, all he could see was her laying there dead. One of those big robots had blasted her with its lasers. He had torn the metal robot to shreds, completely destroying it. He gently picked her lifeless body up and took her to the only place that he felt safe, New Mexico. Even there the giant robots bothered him as he grieved for his dead beloved.

Hulk's mouthed opened and he screamed out into the night, the forest suddenly became quiet. The only sound that could be heard for miles was **BETTY!**


End file.
